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A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good
- Seller
-
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Newson & Company. Good. 1896. Hardcover. Ex-library, with interior stamps, front and back. Binding good, with a little looseness at front hinge. Pages unmarked but a little tanned. Endpages smudged and odd dark stains (smoke without odor? ). Cover is frayed at corners and spine tips, and a stained along top edge. Titles and designs all clear. ; Standard Literature Series; 121 pages .
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
- Seller
- Eat My Words Books
(US)
- Seller's Inventory #
- 20916
- Title
- A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
- Author
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Publisher
- Newson & Company
- Date Published
- 1896
Terms of Sale
Eat My Words Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Eat My Words Books
Biblio member since 2014
Minneapolis, Minnesota
About Eat My Words Books
We are a small, independent book shop in NE Minneapolis. We sell mostly used books with a section of new books by local authors. We also have a large rare and collectible book section. Our real storefront hosts all sorts of community events and often serves up bread, coffee, and tea.
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