A Wonder-Book For Boys and Girls

Boston: Ticknor, Reed, And Fields, 1852. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine+. First Printing, one of 3,067 copies, with "lifed" for "lifted," line 3, p. 21; first issue (one of only 3067 copies printed and published November,1851), without the inserted publisher's catalogue at rear. Small 8vo: vi,[7]-256pp, with frontispiece and 6 woodcut plates, protected by tissue guards, "gracefully executed" by Hammat Billings, "add[ing] materially to the charm of the little volume." (Grolier) Publisher's original T cloth (faded to an even brown tone), spine lettered and stamped with floral decorations in gilt, covers elaborately paneled in blind, pale yellow endpapers. An exemplary copy, the binding tight and secure, spine relaid professionally and almost imperceptibly, with all lettering intact; light, scattered foxing and the odd, occasional stain. BAL 7606. Grolier Hawthorne 25. Peter Parley to Penrod, p.6. Clark A18.1.a. Stories for girls and boys based on classical myths (Pandora's box, Hercules, Bellerophon and the Chimera, Baucis and Philiomen, Perseus and Medusa), freely adapted from Charles Anton's A Classical Dictionary. Written in the months following publication of House of the Seven Gables. The book proved so popular that Ticknor, Reed, and Fields published the sequel, Tanglewood Tales, the next year. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).