His stories often tip well over the boundaries of the plausible, into the realms of fantasy, horror, or even science fiction, and his auditors can never be quite sure what proportion of what he relates was truly experienced and to what degree he might have embellished.

The first volume comprises The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens, first published in London by G. P. Putnam's Sons in April, 1931 (and then in the USA), and Jorkens Remembers Africa, first published in New York City by Longmans, Green & Co. in 1934 (and then in the UK).

The second volume gathers the third and fourth books of Dunsany's Jorkens tales, with two previously uncollected pieces.

The books, Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey and The Last Book of Jorkens were originally published in 1954 and 2002 respectively (the latter, prepared for publication around 1957, and only discovered in 2001, was published in a limited edition, with an introduction explaining its origins - not reproduced in the omnibus volume).

The first volume was issued in a leatherette-bound hardback, with a stamped illustration (from Sidney Sime) and no dust jacket, in early 2004.