Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, Thomas Bulfinch collected the great tales of the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman antiquity; of Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths; and of the age of chivalry in a series of notes for himself. He reprised the stories and related them to contemporary literature and art, making his work an invaluable guide to nineteenth-century culture. Over time, he published his notes in three volumes -- The Age of Fable (1855), The Age of Chivalry (1858), and the Legends of Charlemagne (1863) -- each of which is reproduced here in its entirety.

Bulfinch gives us the myths of Zeus and Hera, Venus and Adonis, Daphne and Apollo, and the gods of Mount Olympus; the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea; the epics of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas; the legends of Valhalla and Thor; and the tales of Beowulf, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. The stories are told clearly by Bulfinch, who was keen to amuse as well as to educate. As he wrote: "Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated".