SOURCE: "Beauty and Wisdom," in The Bookman, London, Vol. XLVIII, July, 1915, p. 116.

An early member of the Celtic Revival, Tynan was a highly regarded Irish poet, novelist, journalist, and critic. In the following essay, she favorably reviews Fifty-One Tales.

There is one curious contradiction in our national attitude towards the nobility—and it may be a simple kind of poetry and love of the picturesque which is at the root of "loving a lord"—and that is that a titled author's books have no more chance of selling than anyone's else; in fact, if anything, they have less chance. Readers generally seem to regard a title of nobility on a title-page with suspicion. They think a lord very delightful in his place, but they distrust him as a man of letters.

I think Lord Dunsany's reputation as an author has suffered because of his title. It may even...