Harper's Young People 1881
Harper and Brothers, New York. 1881.
Bound collection of Harper's Young People: An Illustrated Weekly.
Consists of magazines from November 1880 through October 1881.
 
Contains the first print appearance of Louisa May Alcott's short story "How It All Happened: A Christmas Story", published in the included December 21, 1880 weekly issue. (This tale would reappear two years later in 1882 in AUNT JO'S SCRAPBAG, VOL. VI.)
Also contains another reference to Louisa May Alcott in the Letters section where a young woman, Ida D.B. from San Francisco, California, writes to Harper’s Young People to tell them how the play “The Witch’s Curse” in Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN inspired her to write words for it and perform the play with her drama club.
 
Fair/Good condition.
 
Quarto  (11.25" x 8" x 2")
Hardcover. Green pebbled cloth covered boards adorned with red, gilt, and black stamping. Signs of scuffing on front cover, and a few small tears at the top of the spine. Chipping and loss of cloth at the bottom of spine (minimal but present). Bumping of board corners with some of exposure of board.
 
The cover is attached but shaken. Exposure of netting at the inside cover joint. The front free end papers, frontispiece, title page, and index have signs of wear, and the general index page is present but loose and not attached. On the frontispiece illustration there is a large tear near the seam that runs vertically approximately 3/4 of the page.
 
Beyond those flaws, remarkably, inside, the rest of the binding remains very good and the pages are clean. Displays well on a collector’s shelf.