The Wonder Book for Girls and Boys.
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Francisco, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1852. . 16mo. 154 pp. Hardcover. Navy blue cover cloth boards with gilt spine and binding. No dust jacket. Good with marginal edgewear on pages and binding. Some black and white engraved illustrations. Missing frontispiece. First edition, first printing. Bound by Bone & Son.
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.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 19-8542
- Title
- The Wonder Book for Girls and Boys.
- Author
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Henry G. Bohn, 1852.
Terms of Sale
Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Payment by credit cards or other means. 20% charge for returns,unless item is misdescribed.
About the Seller
Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Biblio member since 2006
San Francisco, California
About Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Open 10:30- 17:00 Monday-Friday. Antiquarian books, Art books, Graphics, Posters, Autographs.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 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...
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