A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good -/No Jacket
- Seller
-
Wellfleet, Massachusetts, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Mershon Book. Good -. Hardcover. No date. Green decorative boards with red, green and black picture of a girl reading outdoors. Boards are worn on spine ends. Other wear and soiling. Rear hinge is cracked. Gift inscription from 1902 and previous owner's name stamp on front end paper. Interior is square, clean and complete. 0.
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.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Wellfleet Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 014284
- Title
- A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good -
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Publisher
- Mershon
- Place of Publication
- New York
Terms of Sale
Wellfleet Books
Books may be returned for 14 days with prior notice.
About the Seller
Wellfleet Books
Biblio member since 2005
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
About Wellfleet Books
WE BUY BOOKS - Single Volume or Entire Collection. Please email info@wellfleetbooks.com Wellfleet Books specializes in Cape Cod Books, Modern First Editions and Children\\\'s Books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- Cracked
- In reference to a hinge or a book's binding, means that the glue which holds the opposing leaves has allowed them to separate,...
- 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....
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