Tanglewood Tales, For Girls and Boys; Being A Second Wonder-Book by Hawthorne, Nathaniel - 1853

Boston: Ticknor, Reed, And Fields, 1853. First Edition. First Printing Very good+ in original green, ribbed cloth covered boards with gilt text and gilt decorations on the spine and decorated embossed front and rear boards. At the front of the book is the publisher's eight pages of ads dated August 1853 listing this title as "Just Out" and without a price. There is a Christmas, 1853 gift inscription on the first page following the ads. A 16mo measuring 6 1/2" by 4 1/4" with some of the cloth at the head and heel of the spine worn through to the underling spine lining and the cloth at the lower tips of the boards also slightly worn through. There is an early prior owner's small book plate on the front paste down. The book is contained within a recent, cloth covered chemise and a 1/4 leather and green cloth slip case with gilt text stamping and raised bands on the spine end. 336 pages of text. A collection of six short stories based on Greek mythology and written for children. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece and six plates by Hammatt Billings. This is the printing with only the imprint of Boston Stereotype Foundry and no mention of the printer, Geo. C. Rand on the copyright page which conforms to the earliest printed copies as noted by Jacob Blanck in Peter Parley to Penrod. (BAL, 7614; Peter Parley to Penrod, p.10)