As for the text, seeing as how this a very British story, both in its setting and its telling, we’ve retained Dunsany’s wistful, whimsical British English. Our only modifications have been in streamlining several hyphened words so they read a bit easier for modern eyes: week-day is now weekday, folk-lore has become folklore, and so on.

The true bulk of our work lies in the nearly 200 footnotes that we’ve appended to enhance your reading, as well as to provide clarity, context, and commentary where necessary.

“It is, on the surface, all so safe and ordinary, and yet the most matter-of-fact reader will feel himself captivated by the wooing spell of Pan from the slopes above the English village.” —The Fortnightly Review

“An utterly delightful and whimsical piece of work.” —Herbet Hitchen, The Christian Register

“Lord Dunsany, in The Blessing of Pan, writes a fantasy on nature worship that is delicately beautiful. It is a fairy story enacted in a modern setting with enough reality to temper the glow of its flaming romanticism.” —America: A Catholic Review of the Week

“Quite unusual expectations of pleasure are aroused by this book . . . as fantastic and dreamlike as one could wish.” —The Daily Telegraph

“The Blessing of Pan is vintage Dunsany, expressing in musical language his love of uncontaminated nature, his hatred of modern business and technology, his contempt for Christianity, and his fondness for forgotten gods.” —E. F. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction Writers

“It is at once an indictment of our mechanical era and a plea for a return to the ancient, slumbering memories of Nature which lie buried in all of us.” —John Gerard, The Saturday Review

“A book of great charm, gives much insight into the psychology of the temperament that seeks communion with the old Gods, or, in the words of the Freudians, to break down the barrier of the censor and bring the subconscious self to the surface.” —The Occult Review

“A remarkable book . . . glows with a gentle reality, mixed with humor which is a splendid element in a book as much a fairy tale as this one is.” —The New York Times

The Blessing of Pan