The Age of Fable; Or, Stories of Gods and Heroes.

BULFINCH, Thomas.

$975.00

Item Number: 139871

Boston: Sanborn, Carter, and Bazin, 1855.

First edition, first state of the first installment in Bulfinch’s famed Mythology; with the names of both the printer and the stereotyper on copyright page. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth elaborately stamped in gilt, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece by Smith Pierson, in-text illustrations. In very good condition with loss to the crown of the spine. Contemporary ownership inscription. Housed in a custom half morocco and folding chemise slipcase.

Bulfinch originally published his now famous Mythology as three volumes: The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes, published in 1855; The Age of Chivalry, or Legends of King Arthur, published in 1858; and Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages, published in 1863. These original three works were posthumously combined into a single volume by Edward Everett Hale in 1881, who gave them the title Bulfinch's Mythology. The book is still in print and remains one of the most widely read popularizations of Greek mythology for English-speaking readers.