I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book. It is a collection of crude and shapeless papers upon current or rather flying subjects; and they must be published pretty much as they stand. They were written, as a rule, at the last moment; they were handed in the moment before it was too late, and I do not think that our commonwealth would have been shaken to its foundations if they had been handed in the moment after. They must go out now, with all their imperfections on their head, or rather...

Alone at some distance from the wasting walls of a disused abbey I found half sunken in the grass the grey and goggle-eyed visage of one of those graven monsters that made the ornamental water-spouts in the cathedrals of the Middle Ages. It lay there, scoured by ancient rains or striped by recent fungus, but still looking like the head of some huge dragon slain by a primeval hero. And as I looked at it, I thought of the meaning of the grotesque, and passed into some symbolic reverie of the three great stages of art.

This volume includes three classic G. K. Chesterton stories: The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a socio-political fantasy involving a lottery-picked king and a joke that becomes reality. The Flying Inn is another political fantasy, with an attempt to create prohibition in the UK, and a small group of rebels who travel the country one step ahead of the authorities. The Trees of Pride is a mystery tale involving strange transplanted trees and the superstition accompanying them.

This volume includes three classic G. K. Chesterton stories and collections. The Club of Queer Trades unravels a society that honors strange and mysterious occupations. The Man Who Was Thursday is a religio-political fantasy, as a detective infiltrates a strange group of anarchists. The Man Who Knew Too Much is a collection of mystery stories, with an uncommon detective.

This volume includes two classic G. K. Chesterton novels, and his play, Magic. The Ball and the Cross is a religio-political fantasy, as a Catholic and an atheist try to keep ahead of the law in order to fight a duel. Manalive brings a man on trial, where nothing is as it seems. (It is a brilliant commentary on a man in search of himself and what he truly values.) Magic: A Fantastic Comedy is Chesterton's entertaining take on religion and skepticism.