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Wonder-book for girls and boys
by HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Wareham, Dorset, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1852. vi, [7]-256pp. With an engraved frontispiece and six engraved plates after designs by Hammat Billings. Without inserted publisher's catalogue. Original publisher's brown blind-stamped cloth, gilt. Rebacked, with original spine laid-down. Spine sunned with some loss to head, foot, and joints, slight rubbing to boards. Internally clean and crisp but for the occasional spot of light foxing, bookplate to FEP. First edition, first issue with 'lifed for 'lifted' on line three of p.21. The Wonder-book for Girls and Boys, by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), retells the myths of Greek mythology for children. . First American edition. 8vo.
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
- Antiquates Ltd
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- AQ12908
- Title
- Wonder-book for girls and boys
- Author
- HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- First American edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Ticknor, Reed, and Fields
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1852
- Keywords
- Children's
- Size
- 8vo
Terms of Sale
Antiquates Ltd
Antiquates Ltd was established by Tom Lintern-Mole in 2007; we travel far and wide to buy, sell, and advise on rare books and manuscripts.
Concentrating on hand-press printing and early modern manuscripts, we pride ourselves on offering a varied selection of antiquarian works on a diverse range of subjects, leaning towards the interesting, the important, and the unusual.
We have a countryside bookshop in Wareham; we also regularly issue catalogues - do ask if you would like to be added to our mailing list - and frequently exhibit at regional and national book fairs in London, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, and York.
We also offer a valuation service (for either insurance or probate purposes), as well as advice on library development.
Concentrating on hand-press printing and early modern manuscripts, we pride ourselves on offering a varied selection of antiquarian works on a diverse range of subjects, leaning towards the interesting, the important, and the unusual.
We have a countryside bookshop in Wareham; we also regularly issue catalogues - do ask if you would like to be added to our mailing list - and frequently exhibit at regional and national book fairs in London, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, and York.
We also offer a valuation service (for either insurance or probate purposes), as well as advice on library development.
About the Seller
Antiquates Ltd
Biblio member since 2008
Wareham, Dorset
About Antiquates Ltd
Mail Order and Internet, but in normal times we have an antiquarian bookshop in the Dorset countryside.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Sunned
- Damage done to a book cover or dust jacket caused by exposure to direct sunlight. Very strong fluorescent light can cause slight...
- 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...
- Crisp
- A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
- 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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