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A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Used
- Condition
- Publisher's vellum, stamped in blind and gilt. Light foxing and soiling to covers
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Company, 1893. Deluxe edition, no. 233 of 250 copies. 19 full-page color plates mounted on japon vellum with gilt caption and border, 60 designs in orange, blue and brown, by Walter Crane. x, 210 pp. 1 vols. Tall 8vo. Publisher's vellum, stamped in blind and gilt. Light foxing and soiling to covers. Crane, Walter. Deluxe edition, no. 233 of 250 copies. 19 full-page color plates mounted on japon vellum with gilt caption and border, 60 designs in orange, blue and brown, by Walter Crane. x, 210 pp. 1 vols. Tall 8vo. Massép. 44; Mahony, p. 65; Osborne I, p.11
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
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Details
- Bookseller
- James Cummins Bookseller
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 267711
- Title
- A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Format/Binding
- 19 full-page color plates mounted on japon vellum with gilt caption and border, 60 designs in orange, blue and brown, by Walter
- Book Condition
- Used - Publisher's vellum, stamped in blind and gilt. Light foxing and soiling to covers
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Deluxe edition, no. 233 of 250 copies
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin & Company
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1893
- Keywords
- Children's Books | Gift Ideas | Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 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.
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