A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Excellent
- Seller
-
Redding, Connecticut, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston:: Ticknor,Reed & Fields., 1852. First Edition. First binding. Frontis and 6 plates. Sm. 8vo., BAL. 7606. Bound in original blue cloth with gilt spine lettering and blind stamp covers. Book is very slightly cocked, lightly rubbed with a few flecks from the gilt on the edges. There are two tiny repairs, skillfully done to the very top and bottom of the spine. Otherwise a lovely, bright and clean copy. Six legends of Greek mythology, retold for children by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Included are The Gorgon’s Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher, and The Chimaera. In 1838, Hawthorne suggested to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that they collaborate on a story for children based on the legend of the Pandora’s Box, but this never materialized. He wrote A Wonder Book between April and July 1851, adapting six legends most freely from Charles Anton’s A Classical Dictionary (1842). He set out deliberately to "modernize" the stories, freeing them from what he called "cold moonshine" and using a romantic, readable style that was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children.. Excellent.
Synopsis
Hawthorne made it his ambition to be a writer as a teenager, he graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine, where poet Longfellow was also a student, and spent several years traveling New England writing short stories before creating The Scarlet Letter. He wrote A Wonder-Book between April and July 1851, freely adapting six legends from Charles Anton's A Classical Dictionary . He set out deliberately to 'modernize' the stories, freeing them from 'cold moonshine' and using a romantic, readable style. This was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children. The stories in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys are all stories within a story. The frame being that a Williams College student, Eustace Bright, is telling these tales to a group of children at Tanglewood, an area in Lenox, Massachusetts, where Hawthorne lived for a time. A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys covers the myths of: The Gorgon's Head - the story of Perseus killing Medusa at the request of the king of the island, Polydectes. The Golden Touch - the story of King Midas and his "Golden Touch". The Paradise of Children - the story of Pandora opening the box filled with all of mankind's Troubles. The Three Golden Apples - the story of Heracles procuring the Three Golden Apples from the Hesperides' orchard, with the help of Atlas. The Miraculous Pitcher - the story of Baucis and Philemon providing food and shelter to two strangers who were Zeus and "Quicksilver" (Hermes) in disguise. Baucis and Philemon were rewarded by the gods for their kindness; they were promised never to live apart from one another. The Chimæra - the story of Bellerophon taming Pegasus and killing the Chimæra.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Quaker Hill Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 000194
- Title
- A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Book Condition
- Used - Excellent
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Ticknor,Reed & Fields.
- Place of Publication
- Boston:
- Date Published
- 1852
- Bookseller catalogs
- NY2008;
Terms of Sale
Quaker Hill Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives not as described or damaged.
About the Seller
Quaker Hill Books
Biblio member since 2009
Redding, Connecticut
About Quaker Hill Books
By appointment only.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cocked
- Refers to a state where the spine of a book is lightly "twisted" in such a way that the front and rear boards of a book do not...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- BAL
- Bibliography of American Literature (commonly abbreviated as BAL in descriptions) is the quintessential reference work for any...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
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