Bulfinch published a reorganized version of the biblical book of Psalms to illustrate the history of the Hebrews.

Bulfinch wrote in his preface: "Our work is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite conversation."

The original volume was dedicated to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Bulfinch described it on the title page as an "attempt to popularize mythology and extend the enjoyment of elegant literature".

His Norse myths are abridged from a work by Paul Henri Mallet (1730–1807), a professor at Geneva, translated by Bishop Thomas Percy as Northern Antiquities[3] (London, 1770, often reprinted).

The Bulfinch retellings were largely superseded in American high schools by Edith Hamilton's works on mythology, which were based directly on classical Greek texts.