A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Published by Houghton Mifflin & Company, 1893

Pitoral cover in publisher's cloth, text and ornamentation are embossed and debossed in black, seafoam green, and off white color tones. Spine adorned similarly to the cover. Seafoam green top stain. Patterned endpapers with decoration in cream against a seafoam green background. Illustrated title page in red and light seafoam green. Illustrated throughout and with headpieces in single color or duotone illustrations. Eighteen full color plates are throughout, as noted on the list of designs at the front, all present. Many are protected by a tissue leaf, laid in. Contents include: The Gorgon's Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher, and The Chimaera. x, 210 pp.EXCERPT FROM THE PREFACE: "The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. In the little volume here offered to the public, he has worked up half a dozen of them, with this end in view. A great freedom of treatment was necessary to his plan; but it will be observed by every one who attempts to render these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, that they are marvellously independent of all temporary modes and circumstances. They remain essentially the same, after changes that would affect the identity of almost everything else." ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: "Walter Crane (1845- 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influentiaL, and among the most prolifiC, children's book creators of his generatioN and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the later 19th century. Crane's work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles, wallpapers and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international socialist movement." (Wikipedia). CONDITION: Some shelf-wear and mild soiling. Leaves have lightly toned with only occasional foxing. Some protective tissue leaves for plates are missing, yet all color plates are present, vivid, and magnificent. Unmarked. Hinges are strong and binding is solid. A lovely copy. Full refund if not satisfied. Seller Inventory # 074147

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin & Company
Publication Date: 1893
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good