Click for full-size.
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys.: With engravings by Baker from designs by Billings.
by HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
London, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields,, 1852. First state, in original cloth First edition of Hathorne's re-telling of ancient myths, first state with "lifed" (for "lifted") at page 21, line 3; there are various colours of cloth without priority. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers blocked in blind, yellow endpapers. Housed in a custom green cloth slipcase. Engraved frontispiece and 6 plates. Contemporary presentation inscription to front free endpaper. Light wear to cloth extremities with neat repairs, light handling creasing and toning to contents. A very good copy. BAL 7606; Clark A 18.1.a; Blanck Peter Parley to Penrod p. 6.
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 A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Peter Harrington
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 144441
- Title
- A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys.
- Author
- HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Place of Publication
- Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields,
- Date Published
- 1852
Terms of Sale
Peter Harrington
All major credit cards are accepted. Both UK pounds and US dollars (exchange rate to be agreed) accepted. Books may be returned within 14 days of receipt for any reason, please notify first of returned goods.
About the Seller
Peter Harrington
Biblio member since 2006
London
About Peter Harrington
Since its establishment, Peter Harrington has specialised in sourcing, selling and buying the finest quality original first editions, signed, rare and antiquarian books, fine bindings and library sets. Peter Harrington first began selling rare books from the Chelsea Antiques Market on London's King's Road. For the past twenty years the business has been run by Pom Harrington, Peter's son.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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....
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- 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...
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...
- BAL
- Bibliography of American Literature (commonly abbreviated as BAL in descriptions) is the quintessential reference work for any...
- 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...
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
Collecting BiblioMysteries
Want to get meta? Bibliomysteries are mystery stories which deal in some significant way with books and the world associated with books. Browse this fascinating subgenre of mystery novels.
Collecting P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum was not only one of the founders of modern day circus performance, he was also the author of the second most printed book of the 19th century. Learn about collecting P. T. Barnum books and ephemera here.
