Fifty-Two Stories of Classic Heroes (1910)

Illustrated by Frank C Papé

Fifty-Two Stories of Classic Heroes is a compilation edited by Francis Storr. The Preface

provided by Storr provides an introduction to the selection as shown below.

The best apology we can offer for adding yet another book of Classical

Stories to the endless existing versions, ancient and modern, in verse and

in prose, is the plea that Vivien offers to Merlin for her "tender rhyme":

"It lives dispersedly in many hands,

And every minstrel sings it differently."

"You Greeks," said the Egyptian priest to Herodotus, "are always children,"

and Greece will never lose the secret of eternal youth. The tale of Troy

divine, of Thebes and Pelops' line, the song of sweet Colonus, the most

cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby, Dido with a willow in her hand -

these old stories of Homer and Sophocles, of Virgil and Ovid, have not

lost their gloss and freshness. "The innocent brightness of a new-born day

is lovely yet." They have been sung or said by Wace and Caxton, by

Chaucer and Wordworth, by Keats and William Morris; they have been

adapted for young readers by Fénelon, by Niebuhr, by Kingsley, by

Hawthorne, and yet the last word has not been said. Each new editor

makes his own selection, chooses some new facet, or displays the jewel

in a new light. As Sainte-Beuve remarks of "Don Quixote" and other

world classics, "On peut y reconnaître autre chose et plus que l'auteur

tout le premier n'était tenté d'y voir, et plus, certainement, qu'il n'a

songé á y mettre."

For connoisseurs of Papé's work, we have prepared sets of 8 Greeting Cards displaying each of his major monotone images for Fifty-Two Stories of Classic Heroes and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear.

Code: FCP FTSCH MS(8)
Price: US$40.00

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-on plates - in

hommage to the hand-crafted approach typical of prestige illustrated publications

produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is hand-finished and the

images are presented on White card stock with an accompanying envelope. The rear

of each card carries information about Frank C Papé, this wonderful suite and the

profiled illustration - we have left the interior of the cards blank so that you may write

your own personal message.

Should you wish to order a reproduction print of one or more of these images, we

have provided some options below for our Fine Art Posters. Each of our Fine Art

Posters is prepared with archival material and processes to ensure many years of

enjoyment - and as with our Greeting Cards, each Fine Art Poster is also accompanied

by information about Frank C Papé, this suite and the profiled illustration.

To purchase, simply click on the appropriate "Add to Cart" button and you will be

taken through to our Shopping Cart secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will

be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any destination in

the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every US$200 worth

of purchases.

An example of one of our Fine Art

Posters in a superb 20x36" format