Tales from the Norse Grandmother, (The Elder Edda.)
New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1881. Frontispiece illustration of Allfather in Hildskjalf. First edition. Small 8vo. 7-3/8" x 5-3/16". Green cloth covered boards with blind stamped rules and title stamped in gold on spine. 432 pp. Brown endpapers. A few finger smudges, small white spot on spine Old Sunday School library stamp on ffep. A touch of rubbing to extremities. Overall a very good copy. Item #1247
"The Great-Grandmother is the old lady of history, of poetry, of romance, and religion, whose only business is to remember. In the ancient Norse tongue she is called Edda, and you will learn that there is an elder and a younger Edda; but the younger is the direct descendant of the elder, and derives all her knowledge and importance from her. Therefore, we might aptly call them Great-Grandmother and Grandmother Edda.
The two Eddas, as you may know, are two Icelandic books containing the oldest account of Norse mythology and legend; and I shall explain to you how it happens that nearly all we know of ancient Northern religion, which is believed on good grounds to be the religion of our Saxon, Danish, and Norman forefathers, comes to us from Iceland, which has very prettily been called the foster-mother of Northern history. Were it not for that desolate, ice-bound, volcanic island, lying on the verge of the Arctic circle, we should be far poorer in the annals of our great race than we are to-day."
Price: $125.00