Beehive Books Launches A New Version Of The Illuminated WONDER BOOK: Hawthorne’s Greek Myths Illustrated By Das Pastoras

A Mythical Enterprise

Beehive Books has just launched a new edition of The Illuminated Wonder Book on Kickstarter illustrated by Das Pastoras and here’s a few details…

A collaboration millennia in the making: the paintings of master artist Das Pastoras illuminate Nathaniel Hawthorne’s heroic adaptations of classic Greek myths, in a new Promethean art book edition of these epic tales.

This exquisite edition of Hawthorne’s classic A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS AND BOYS features the great icons of Greek mythic tales — Pegasus, Perseus, Hercules, King Midas, Pandora, Atlas — brought roaring out of antiquity by a series of fifteen original paintings and dozens of spot illustrations by the great Galician graphic artist known as Das Pastoras.

The paintings bring thunder from Olympus and darkness from Hades; Hawthorne’s tales bring out the humanity of the Gods, and the heroism of the women and men.

With an introduction by renowned filmmaker and modern mythmaker Guillermo Del Toro, and original essays from José Villarrubia and Kate Bernheimer, this stunning volume joins Beehive’s ongoing ILLUMINATED EDITIONS series of oversized slipcase art book reinventions of classic literary works.

Let’s peek inside Pandora’s Box…

Greek mythology has long captivated imaginations, and has been retold and adapted by writers and artists across generations. But before the 19th century, these foundational stories were primarily read and shared among adults, and weren’t seen as appropriate for children’s literature.

Nathaniel Hawthorne became enthralled by the idea of writing a book of Greek and Roman myths for children during his college days, following a conversation with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850 catapulted him to literary fame. Adrift and uncertain during a pivotal moment in his career, he finally turned his focus to the ancients. He carefully selected tales suitable for children, revising and reinventing some of them into the versions that we know today.

Hawthorne’s text revives the oral tradition of these tales by having them narrated by the fictional teenager Eustace Bright to amuse a gaggle of his younger cousins, who beg for more stories. He regales them with stories about Perseus, King Midas, Pandora, the garden of the Hesperides, Baucis and Philemon, and Bellerophon.

The book became an instant classic, paving the way for the success of editions of fairy tales and legends for young readers throughout the English-speaking world. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Hawthorne’s text was republished many times, featuring artwork by prominent illustrators showcasing the artistic trends of their time. But today, it has fallen largely out of public memory — only a few editions of this landmark work of storytelling remain in print.

In his introduction to our volume, Guillermo del Toro writes: “To me, the great illustrators have the power to co-author and re-define a tale… [The illustrator] reimagines it — retells it, even. The mood, tone, and feeling of that tale coalesce around the illustrations and engrave themselves in our minds.”

Das Pastoras, the poetic and painterly Galician visual artist, brings his vivid and fantastical vision to these-larger-than life tales, presented with more drama and thunder than ever before.

“The illustrations Das Pastoras provides for this Hawthorne volume have suffused these tales and the Romantic breath of their author with urgency and relevance. These tales were always perennial, but the throbbing pulse of Das Pastoras art makes them gain new life — they feel newly minted.”  —Guillermo del Toro

These works of (re)authorship combine in the kind of exquisite edition the Beehive Books ILLUMINATED EDITIONS series is known for. Drawing inspiration from the many Golden Age illustrated editions—but creating something new and wholly unique with the alchemy of story, author, artist, and publisher—this illuminated edition further illuminates and recreates these myths for a modern audience with the sense of timelessness that Hawthorne described in his original preface:

“No epoch of time can claim a copyright in these immortal fables. They seem never to have been made; and certainly, so long as man exists, they can never perish; but, by their indestructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for every age to clothe with its own garniture of manners and sentiment.” 

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