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The Age of Fable; or, Stories of Gods and Heroes
by Bulfinch, Thomas
- Used
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Publisher's purple cloth, covers elaborately blocked in blind, spine gilt, yellow endpapers. Minor fading
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Sanborn, Carter, and Bazin, 1855. First Edition, first issue. Illustrated with wood-engravings. Clipped signature of John Greenleaf Whittier mounted on the front pastedown. 1 vols. 12mo. Publisher's purple cloth, covers elaborately blocked in blind, spine gilt, yellow endpapers. Minor fading. First Edition, first issue. Illustrated with wood-engravings. Clipped signature of John Greenleaf Whittier mounted on the front pastedown. 1 vols. 12mo. A nice copy of this classic, which we would venture to say, has virtually never been out of print since this first edition. Bulfinch dedicated it "To Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet alike of the many and of the few. This attempt to popularize mythology, and extend the enjoyment of elegant literature, is respectfully inscribed.". Peter Parley to Penrod p. 13; Grolier American 65
Synopsis
For almost a century and a half, Bulfinch's Mythology has been the text by which the great tales of the gods and goddesses, Greek and Roman antiquity, Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths, and the age of chivalry have been known. The forerunner of such interpreters as Edith Hamilton and Robert Graves, Thomas Bulfinch wanted to make these stories available to the general reader. A series of private notes to himself grew into one of the single most useful and concise guides to literature and mythology. The stories are divided into three sections: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes (first published in 1855); The Age of Chivalry (1858), which contains King Arthur and His Knights, The Mabinogeon, and The Knights of English History; and The Legends of Charlemagne or The Romance of the Middle Ages (1863). For the Greek myths, Bulfinch drew on Ovid and Virgil, and for the sagas of the north, from Mallet's Northern Antiquities. provides lively versions of the myths of Zeus and Hera, Venus and Adonis, Daphne and Apollo, and their cohorts on Mount Olympus; the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea; the legends of the Trojan War and the epic wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas; the joys of Valhalla and the furies of Thor; and the tales of Beowulf and Robin Hood.
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Details
- Bookseller
- James Cummins Bookseller
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 321233
- Title
- The Age of Fable; or, Stories of Gods and Heroes
- Author
- Bulfinch, Thomas
- Format/Binding
- Illustrated with wood-engravings. Clipped signature of John Greenleaf Whittier mounted on the front pastedown. 1 vols. 12mo
- Book Condition
- Used - Publisher's purple cloth, covers elaborately blocked in blind, spine gilt, yellow endpapers. Minor fading
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, first issue
- Publisher
- Sanborn, Carter, and Bazin
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1855
- Keywords
- German
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
Terms of Sale
James Cummins Bookseller
All items, as usual, are guaranteed as described and are returnable within 30 days if not as described. Within the United States, all books are shipped UPS unless otherwise requested (please provide a street address). Overseas orders should specify shipping preference. All postage is extra. New clients are requested to send remittance with your orders. Libraries may apply for deferred billing. All New York and New Jersey residents must add the appropriate sales tax. We accept American Express, Master Card, and Visa. All items are subject to prior sale; prices are subject to change.
About the Seller
James Cummins Bookseller
Biblio member since 2009
New York, New York
About James Cummins Bookseller
Founded in 1978 by James Cummins, the firm has grown to include two New Jersey locations as well as the main store at 699 Madison Avenue (between 62nd and 63rd Streets) in New York City.Hours: Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (During July & August, until 4:00 p.m. on Fridays.)The Madison Avenue store is a seventh-floor oasis for book-lovers, a quiet and pleasantly furnished book room with a carefully chosen, expertly catalogued and broad-based selection of fine and rare books, autographs, manuscripts, and works of art. We have built notable private collections for American and international clients. Our stock is always changing, and our steady input from private buying and public auctions assures our clients of new surprises (and temptations!) at each visit. Our stock covers a wide range of collecting interests, with particular emphasis in the following fields: British and American Literature, Sporting Books, Private Press and Illustrated Books, 19th-Century Color Plate Books, Americana, Travel, Sets and Fine Bindings, History, and Authors' Manuscripts and Letters. Our catalogued inventory exceeds 50,000 titles, much of which can be searched on the internet. In addition, our New Jersey warehouse contains over 400,000 books in all subject areas. We might have the books you're looking for.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- 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....
- 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...
- 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...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 12mo
- A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
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