Bulfinch's Mythology (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Bought as a gift, my friend loved it. She enjoyed the read and loves how the book looks on her bookshelf.

Simply worded and delightful.

A wonderful retelling of the myths.

I have a passing interest in mythology and have been buying up books to read down the line. When I came across this book by Thomas Bulfinch, I was more curious than anything to see how a man of his time wrote about such topics. This led to me buying the book and returning to it every now and again over the past few months. For those who do not know, Bulfinch's Mythology was originally published in 1876 as a collection of mythology for the general audience. This included a fairly large chapter on old Greek mythology, Arthur and the round table, Charlemagne and others. It's written for the more simple folks to read a long time ago. It kind of shows in how he wrote the thing and was part of the appeal for me. Due to its age, it's obviously very outdated and not a recommendation for those just beginning to get into mythology or reading in general. There's plenty of better books with more detail and more skill for that sort of thing. You could easily look at these chapters as a quick summary of bigger things, just enough to get a feel of what you like about mythology and find more extensive works on the subject. It's not a book you pick up looking for intense amount of detail. It's just not made for that sort of thing. I did however find it to be an interesting take on myth, reading it from a Victorian's perspective. Baring in mind, these folks didn't have Wikipedia etc to compare notes. There's obviously mistakes here and there, there's also some odd comparisons to Christianity etc that might throw some people off. It's also a bit dry in places. The Greek mythology section for example was very easy to read but the Arthur and Charlemagne portions were a bit of a slog. With all that said, I'm still happy with my purchase. I still enjoyed reading a good chunk of it. It doesn't feel overly long and it's easy to navigate, to avoid things you've already read or no interest in reading. It's also very nice to look at. The front and back covers look fantastic. It also fits nicely in with my other leather books on the shelf. I don't know who I would honestly recommend it too. Anyone looking for information on Mythology could get something out of this and a mature minded person could find it as a good starting point. But it might leave some others very bored and is too basic for the more die hard mythology fans. It's a decent £15 purchase but it's clearly outdated and only for specific readers.

The book is beautiful to look at. Really looking forward to reading it now.

Leather-bound version: The first impression out of the box is great, it looks fantastic with it's beautiful cover design and gold trimmed pages. And from a brief skim the contents seem concise and thorough. A great addition to the shelf of any mythology nut.

Absolutely blown away by the quality of these books. This is the second one that I've bought now and I intend on completing the collection! Beautiful cover/spine designs, the inner pages are a work of art and the quality of every page is just a delight. Very happy customer. Thank you!

It arrived in good time and as it was for a student of ancient Greek, it was appreciated, though the names of the gods and goddesses are the Roman ones. The extra myths were a bonus

Canterbury Classic Collection. Affordable and good quality.

Beautifully bound book. Filled with mythology from many sources. Highly recommend!

A high quality edition. Looks fantastic and a great read. This book will stay in the family for generations.

Great book, it's awesome for those who want to lear something about the stories of old. And the quality of the book itself is amazing.

Excellent book, but do keep in mind this will not be easy read, as the book is more in the line of textbook, not in a storybook way or lucid manner. So might feel bored at first, but if you are a mythology buff, this is absolute must have. Give it time and it will grow on you