Publisher's Synopsis
BLACK AND WHITE EDITION: This is a cornerstone piece for anyone wanting to dive deeper into mythology of various kinds.
Mr. Bulfinch does a wonderful job in making a collective account of stories for most of the entities he covers, including several excerpts from poets, historians, Milton, Homer, as well as his own brother and many more. Traversing from Greek and Roman to Hindu and Celtic and beyond, this is a great book for any mythology lover.
If that wasn't enticing enough, we added in the volumes of "King Arthur and His Knights" and even "Legends of Charlemagne" to give you an unforgettable resource and collection. This contents of this book were created in the late 1800's and thus, the wording and spelling of many of the deities, places, and beyond are vastly different from their modern versions. In an attempt to bring this up to speed, while still maintaining its original state, Battle Goddess Productions has replaced the spellings that may hinder someone's ability to discover more research on the stories and mythology found within.
This includes the spelling of names, such as but not limited to, Corea - Korea, Thibet - Tibet, or in some cases we added the alternative spelling "Halcyone/Alcyone" in order not to lose the original grip it holds. Another change we did was break out the dialogue and excerpts so that they may stand out clearly and be easier read or found. we hope these extra efforts involving the textual content make this a more pleasant experience for discovering mythology.
The artwork found within is a collection of work from a mixture of artists from over a hundred years ago and older. A listing of artists can be found in the back matter so you may search for more of their work within our edition. Not all of the public domain images had the artist labelled, but we felt the "unknown" deserved to be shown off right along with the more well-known artists. The collective was known for illustrating fairy tales, mythology, or even prior versions of Bulfinch's own publications including Arthur Rackham, a personal favorite. If you have ever wondered where and how so many authors tie mythology into their work, then this book may be the key you were looking for. Within this piece are many stories both familiar and lesser known.
There will be information discovered in here that may shed light on modern retellings and inspired work like "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman to our very own "Cedric the Demonic Knight" by Valerie Willis. By no means is this a complete collection of all things mythology, worldly, or monsters. Though, as a complete geek for mythology, it is a must-have as part of your at-home collection. There are several other up to date sources, but this is a flavor you will not, cannot, find.
If you wish to research these further, seek out other books such as J.A. Coleman's "Dictionary of Mythology," "The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore" by Patricia Monaghan, "Norse Mythology A to Z" by Kathleen N. Daly, and even Carol Rose's "Giants, Monsters, and Dragons" - all of these are found in our very own arsenal of go-to books for research.
