The Treasure Chest of My Book House [VINTAGE 1954]

Miller, Olive Beaupre (editor)

Published by The Book House for Children, Chicago, Illinois, 1954

About this Item

Fine condition navy blue boards with a 6 1/2 inch by 5 1/2 inch full color front cover pastedown and gold front cover and spine lettering. Includes Preface. Illustrated with black-and-white drawings, color drawings, and color front and rear endpaper drawings. A vintage former owner bookplate is neatly affixed to the left center of the first free front endpaper. All pages are in very fine unmarked condition and the spine/binding is exceedingly tight and square (see photographs. Contents include the following stories: THe Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, A True Story; The Adventures of Perseus, A Greek Myth; The Ballad of East and West by Rudyard Kipling; The Boyhood of Buffalo Bill Retold fromj his Autobiography; Exploring the Wilderness by Olive Beaupre Miller; The Story of Daniel Boone; Francois Villon, THe Vagabond of Paris by Olive Beaupre Miller; George Rogers Clark and the Conquest of the Northwest by Theodore Roosevelt; Gideon, the Warrior from the Book of Judges; Hiawatha's Fasting by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; How the Goddess of Spring Came to Scoring by Charles Kingsley; THe Labors of Hercules , A Greek Myth; Peer Gynt, Told from the Play by Henrik Ibsen; The Plains' Call by Arthur Chapman; Princess Nellie and the Seneca Chief, A True Story; The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray; The Rough Rider by Theodore Roosevelt; Solitude by Lord Byron; The Stealing of Iduna, A Norse Myth; Thor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Thor's Journey to Jotun-Heim, A Norse Myth. "The Treasure Chest" continues with still more true stories of actual adventure. Here we have "Exploring the Wilderness," the story of Daniel Boone; "The Boyhood of Buffalo Bill," retold from his own autobiography; "George Rogers Clark and the Conquest of the Northwest," as told by Theodore Roosevelt, and the actual experiences of a girl who was carried off by Indians in Princess Nelly and the Seneca Chief." Most interesting of all is "The Adventures of Alexander Selkirk," the true story of the shipwrecked sailor on whose adventures Daniel Defoe founded his story of "Robinson Crusoe." This tale, Sir Richard Steele and other eminent literary men of the eighteenth century had directly from the lips of Selkirk himself and so recorded it for posterity. On the imaginative side we have in "The Treasure Chest" the story of that braggart and ne'er-do-well, Peer Gynt, who went through so many wild and fantastic adventures before he discovered what he really was as a man and how to be truly himself. An old Norse folk tale, "Peer Gynt" was made into a play by the great Norwegian dramatist, Hendrick Ibsen, and it formed the basis of the Peer Gynt Suite by the Norwegian composer, Grieg, music often heard on programs for children. We have also the deliciously nonselsical "The Rose and the Ring" by Thackeray with Thackeray's original illustrations. And representing further gerat English authors we have Rudyard Kipling's "Ballad of East and West." This poem has a rhythm so exciting and stirring that the mere words rouse a reader quite aside from the the exciting tale of the English colonel's son who chased the Indian raider, Kamal, to recover his father's stolen horse, riding through a land where his foes lay hidden behind every rock and tree, and winning at last through his own redoubtable strength the respect and friendship of Kamal. Though boys and girls are now out of the fairy tale age, they still hunger for some highly imaginative stories and are ready for the heroic atmosphere of the classic myths. It was in these myths that men of old tried to explain what they did not understand in the natural phenomena of the world about them and personified through the actions of gods and godlike heroes, or of evil mischief makers, their concept of what is good in its constant struggle to overcome evil. All nations have had their myths but the Greek and Norse mythologies are the most complete and orderly." - excerpt from the Preface. Seller Inventory # 007777

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Treasure Chest of My Book House [VINTAGE...

Publisher: The Book House for Children, Chicago, Illinois

Publication Date: 1954

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine