Description: This illustration is from a retelling of Old Norse mythology,
Asgard Stories
(1901), by Mary H.
Foster and Mabel H.
Cummings. The illustration
depicts Óðinn
sitting on Hliðskjálf with his
spear, Gungnir; his ravens, Huginn and Muninn; and his wolves,
Geri
and Freki. The
illustration is signed with the initials H.L.M., but these
initials are not necessarily the initials of the illustrator.
See Research Notes below for information concerning the original
source and the original illustrator.
Source: Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse
Mythology
Folio or Page: frontispiece
Medium: not known
Date: 1901
Dimensions (mm): 90 x 140
Provenance:
This illustration is from Asgard Stories:
Tales from Norse Mythology from the collection of P. A.
Baer.
Rights:
This illustration from Asgard Stories: Tales
from Norse Mythology is in the public domain.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
Sage Duhn Khran notes in her MyNDIR-IDG research spreadsheet "Asgard Stories and Original Illustrations" that the
original illustrator was Carl Emil Doepler 'The Elder' in Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden.
Trish Baer notes that "This illustration is a copy of the illustration
by Carl Emil Doepler 'The Elder' of "Odin, the Allfather" on page 7 of Wilhelm
Wagner's Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden: in Schilderungen für Jugend und
Volk (first edition 1872 or 1874 ?), and it was not included in the
English translation Asgard and the Gods that was first
published in 1880."
Bibliography:
Editions
Foster,
Mary, and
Mabel
Cummings. Asgard
Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology. New
York: Silver, Burdett and Co,
1901.
Gungnir (non.)
Óðinn's spear whose name means "swaying one."
Hliðskjálf (non.)
The high seat that Odin sits on and looks out over the world.
Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.
Freki (non.)
One of the two wolves that accompany Óðinn.
Geri (non.)
One of the two wolves that accompany Óðinn.
Huginn (non.)
One of Óðinn´s pair of ravens that he sends out in the morning to
gather news and whisper it into his ear when they come back. Huginn's
name means "thought."
Muninn (non.)
One of Óðinn´s pair of ravens that he sends out in the morning to
gather news and whisper it into his ear when they come back. Muninn's
name means "memory."
Gods and Goddesses
Óðinn (non.) Odin (en.)
The chief god of the Æsir in The Prose Edda.
However, in Heimskringla he is a mortal who
tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he is a god.
Nouns
Edwardian (en.) The
Edwardian era began with the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910
(January 22, 1901 - 28 July, 1914). However, the era's end date is
sometimes extended to the beginning of World War 1 (28 July
1914).
Source Materials:
Asgard Stories (en.)
Children's book by Mabel Cummings and Mary Foster published
1901.
Source Persons
Cummings,
Mabel (en.)
Nationality: English
b. 28 Mar 1872
d. 24 August 1962
Occupation: Childrens book writer.
Nationality: American
Mabel Homer Cummings lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, as
well as Boston and Cambridge. She was born on the 28th of March,
1872 in Cambridge, and died on the 24th of August, 1962 in Brookline.
She lived with her sister, the horticulturalist and ornithologist
Emma G. Cummings. She was a school teacher and the headmistress
and co-founder of the high school Brimmer and May, where Cummings Hall
is named after her. She graduated from Smith College in 1895. She was
almost certainly a founding member of the College Club of Boston,
the first women’s college club in the United States, and bought
the building at 76 Marlborough in 1893.
Foster,
Mary (en.)
Nationality: American
Occupation: Childrens book writer and schoolteacher.
b. 19 Dec 1848
d. 27 Oct 1914
