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Alcott, Louisa May LITTLE WOMEN or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy [with] LITTLE WOMEN, PART SECOND. Boston Roberts Brothers 1869

2 volumes. Scarce First editions, quite early printing of the first volume showing no mention of Part the Second, but with a price in the adverts of $1.50 and the 1869 title and the first edition, first issue of the second volume. Illustrated by May Alcott. 8vo, both volumes bound in beautiful full period style calf, boards with double gilt ruled boarders, board edges gilt rolled, blind rolled on turn-ins, spines with very attractive gilt tooling in panels between gilt stippled raised bands, contrasting red and green morocco labels in two compartments lettered in gilt. [vi], 341, [10] ads; iv, 359, [8] ads. A handsome set, generally quite well preserved, some light mellowing or old evidence of age, ads intact, the plates all present and in good order.

VERY SCARCE FIRST EDITION SET OF LITTLE WOMEN. As noted, Vol. I is a very early issue without mention of LITTLE WOMEN. PART THE SECOND, but with the 1869 dated title page and with the $1.50 price in the ads. The Second Part is in the earliest printed state, being first issue without note of LITTLE WOMEN ON p.iv.
Considered a classic of American literature, the reading of this book has now become a rite of passage for young girls the world over. Louisa May Alcott's father was Bronson Alcott, writer and transcendentalist, and an important figure in New England, prominent in the American Renaissance and among the Concord circle which included Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau as well as Melville and Whitman. Though based on her own happy childhood in New England (she is the character Jo), Louisa May considered this a work written primarily to earn money. The success of LITTLE WOMAN and its sequels gave the Alcott family the first financial security they had ever known.

$US5750

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