A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Used
- good
- Condition
- Good
- Seller
-
Champaign, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Houghton Mifflin, January 1886. Paper Back . Good. Good- Softcover. Moderate soiling and shelfwear to covers. Spine has rubbing. Textblock soiled. Some pages have soiling. Pages yellowed, but tight in binding. Pictures available upon request. A locally owned, independent book shop since 1984.
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
- Jane Addams Book Shop
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 116874
- Title
- A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Format/Binding
- Paper Back
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin
- Date Published
- January 1886
Terms of Sale
Jane Addams Book Shop
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Jane Addams Book Shop
Biblio member since 2010
Champaign, Illinois
About Jane Addams Book Shop
We are a locally owned, independent bookstore that has been in business for more than twenty-five years. With more than 70,000 titles in our shop we have a number of very well-stocked sections that span fifteen separate rooms on three floors.
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....
- Soiled
- Generally refers to minor discoloration or staining.
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Shelfwear
- Minor wear resulting from a book being place on, and taken from a bookshelf, especially along the bottom edge.
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