The World Mythology Collection: Deluxe 6-volume box set edition

by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Squire, Mary Litchfield

This deluxe box set includes 6 clothbound, gold-embossed volumes, bringing together myths and legends from all over the world.

Retold by accomplished folklorists including Nathanial Hawthorne and Charles Squire, these tales encompass Greek mythology through Celtic and Norse tales to the stories of Native Americans and countless other enthralling myths from around the world. Discover the roots behind many recognizable heroes, gods and spirits, including Thor, Loki, Achilles and Coyote.

Box set
• Tales of Greek Gods
• Tales of Greek Heroes
• Norse Mythology
• Celtic Mythology
• Native American Myths and Legends
• Myths and Legends from Around the World

Featuring insightful introductions in each volume, this delightful box set makes a perfect gift for any mythology lover.

ABOUT THE The Arcturus Collector's Classics series are high-quality, clothbound box-sets of classic works of literature. With elegant embossed cover-designs and colored endpapers, these editions make wonderful gifts or collectibles to treasure forever.

Genres: Mythology

Hardcover

Published May 1, 2022

About the author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

Reviews

[Georgios Goulas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The books themselves are very beautiful and the stories are told in a way that makes for a lighthearted reading. These aside, I cannot recommend this to anyone interested in mythology. These stories are retold according to the authors' sensibilities and thus have been diluted greatly.
For instance, Kronos is mentioned as a benevolent heavenly king during the Golden Age of humanity and Zeus as greedy for usurping him. The original myth, as told in Hesiod's Theogony, explains that Kronos usurped his tyrranical father Uranus and was afraid of suffering the same fate. In order to avoid that, he swallowed his children and Zeus had to save his siblings. All of that is absent here.
The change in Theseus and Ariadne's story is equally egregious, with the author basically addressing the audience directly to inform us that the events as told in the original myth are false.
Changes like these should not be made in my opinion as they deprive us of one of the greatest things mythology has to offer: a window into the worldview of humans who lived in a very different world than the one we inhabit. For that reason, if you are interested in learning the mythologies of the world, I recommend you look elsewhere.

[TwoHeadedLamb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read the Norse mythology book they had and honestly: it sucked.

This book is good for those who aren’t that into mythology but if you’re trying to actually study/find something in it this book only leaves out key details. They failed to mention that Loki gave birth to Odins 8 legged horse, failed to mentioned how Loki was exactly punished after killing balder, failed to mention that the mend of poets Odin had in his mouth came out of two ‘ends’ allowing for both good and bad poets. It was also HEAVILY Christianized, which is to be expected since all recounts have some sort of Christian undertone but this one took it to a whole new level. Near the end Odin speaks to all the Aesir and Vanir telling them that ‘he whom we may not name’ will decree something new or some sort of BS. If you want to actually learn Norse mythology without being bombarded with inaccuracies or misinformation don’t read this book.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Norse book of this series and really enjoyed it. It runs through all the main stories faithfully but would have preferred a clearer explanation on mythological timeline, and cosmological order and make up.

[William Dey · Rating 2 out of 5]

variable writing. the edit is weird too. often they'll say things like Aphrodite also known to us as Aphrodite (as if it's had Venus and someone has autocorrected Roman names back to greek, without double checking).

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myths and legends from around the World - 4 stars