Click for full-size.
The Wonder-book for Girls and Boys
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
new york, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1884. This is a very good or better hardcover copy bound in the publisher's elaborately gilt decorated red boards with bevelled edges, and just light wear. Very clean inside and out. Some tanning to endpapers a little faint tan spotting, only to endpapers. All page-edges gilt. Illustrated in black & white with engravings by F. S. Church. 10" high X 8" wide, 150 pages. A superb collector's copy. Large heavy book, foreign shipping will be extra. This book will be securely wrapped and packed in a sturdy box and shipped with tracking. . Hard Cover. Very Good. Illus. by F. S. Church .
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.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Wonder-book for Girls and Boys
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Design Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 015231
- Title
- The Wonder-book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Illustrator
- F. S. Church
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1884
- Keywords
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, F. S. Church
- Bookseller catalogs
- American Literature; Children's Books and Cartoons;
Terms of Sale
Design Books
Shipping charges: $4.50 Media Mail in the United States, Priority Mail extra, foreign shipping billed at cost. 30 day return with prior notice.
About the Seller
Design Books
Biblio member since 2006
new york, New York
Ask Seller a Question
About Design Books
We offer out of print, scarce and rare books, prints and photographs. Our books are mainly in the areas of architecture, fine art, exhibition catalogs, Chinese and Japanese art, decorative arts, modern design, illustrated books, textile design, fine press and typography.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
This Book’s Categories
Browse rare books
Interested in rare and collectible books? Booksellers from around the world showcase some of their finest in Biblio’s rare book room.
Uncommonly Good Books Sold in 2019
Read about some of the most interesting books and ephemera that were sold through Biblio in 2019 and browse the gallery of highlights.
