Louisa May Alcott, Her Life, Letters and Journals
Edited by Ednah D. Cheney
Published by Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1890.
Early Edition FILLED with late c.19th century Alcott Ephemera
(For reference, the First Edition was published in 1889).
 
A true collector’s copy, this early edition of Louisa May Alcott, Her Life, Letters and Journals, was once owned by an Alcott fan who revered Louisa.  This is evidenced by the wonderful collection of newspaper clippings the owner pasted throughout the book. And carefully affixed to one of the front-end papers is a dried lily of the valley flower with a pencil notation, “From Miss Alcott’s grave, May 28, 1894”.
 
 Inserts unique to this volume and added by previous owner:
Note: inserts appear to be from newspapers or magazines. The word “picture” will refer to this, and not indicate an actual photograph.
 
Newspaper clipping pasted on back of front endpaper and first flypaper:
“Snow Maiden’s Daughter: Louisa Alcott’s Experience as Foster Mother to the Beautiful Child of May Alcott, Who Figured in ‘Little Women’”. With a sketch picture from the newspaper of "Louise Nerriker". No date. Article is written after Louisa's death (in 1888), and speaks of Lulu now a young woman growing up in Switzerland. 
On one of the front flypapers with title of book, a secured dried Lily of the Valley flower with pencil note “From Miss Alcott’s Grave. May 28, 1894”.
 On back of the above page, pasted printed picture of Louisa and Anna Alcott. Pencil handwriting below, “Jo and Meg”. Below that, is a printed picture of an older Louisa.
On back od dedication page, a pasted image of a sculpted bust of Louisa by Walton Ricketson, with a plate printing of Louisa’s signature.
On back of the Introduction page is pasted a newspaper-feel image of Rome with a printed title of “Piazza Barberihi + Marks House of Louisa Alcott”. Handwriting atop this reads, “Rome”.
Ontop of Table of Content page: Cutout of a printed poem, “The Concord School of Philosophy” by Louisa May Alcott
On back of Table of Contents page: Two items:
 An article about Louisa May Alcott’s Memoirs.
A small printed snippet about the Concord School of Philosophy history.
On the back of the Illustrations list page is a pasted picture of a bust of Louisa with a printed title, “Miss Louisa M. Alcott- by F. Edwin Elwell”
Top of page 16, above the Chapter “Childhood” title, is a sketch picture of the Alcott family dancing with a presumed Lizzie at the piano.
Page 404, last page: Pasted image of Louisa May Alcott with printed plate signature.             
The next pastings seem to be ontop of the advertisements that were originally bound into the back of book. The advertisements appear to have been covered with a pasted on blank piece of paper, and then the following pasted ontop:
 
Newspaper Cutting of Louisa May Alcott’s obituary
Newspaper Cutting of Bronson Alcott’s obituary
Newspaper Cutting of Anna Alcott’s obituary. This bear’s the title “Last of the Alcott Family”, the date “Thursday, July 20, 1893”, and has an extra pasted in cutting reading, “Green grow the grass about the grave of the last of the Little Women, who will be buried in Sleepy Hollow today.”                                                                                                                                      
As noted on the book’s dedication page, Ednah Cheney dedicated Louisa May Alcott, Life, Letters and Journals to “Mrs. Anna B. Pratt, the sole surviving sister of Louisa May Alcott, and her never-failing help, comforter, and friends from birth to death”. Anna Alcott Pratt died in 1893, four years after that dedication and three years after this particular copy in this listing was printed. The book was in possession of its first owner at the time of Anna’s death, and Anna’s obituary carefully added to the end of the book.
Final Pasting is on back of rear end paper. Appears to be from a newspaper article titled: "The Louisa Alcott Home". An unnamed author writes, "To the Editor of the Herald" and gives a heartwarming and impassioned appeal for the Louisa May Alcott house to be made a museum! The author provides a list of reasons including mentioning LITTLE WOMEN's profound effect on both boys and girls, and Louisa's stance as a suffragette. The author's plea includes: "Louisa Alcott has gladdened the hearts and cheered the homes of thousands of girls in this republic, and the girls all over the world would be quick to respond." Article would be pre-1911 when the house was purchased to be a museum.
 
This once-treasured copy is ready to be revered and shared in its next home.
 
Provenance and Parallel timeframe to Louisa May Alcott:
This book is inscribed to “Beatrice Tolman Sawyer, From Aunt Cora, Jan. 1, 1891”.
Beatrice Tolman Sawyer was born on May 13, 1870, in Dracut, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Alfred A. Sawyer (a shop keeper) and  Mary Ellen Tolman (a homemaker). Her mother, Mary Ellen, was born in Lowell on November 10th, 1846. At that time, Louisa May Alcott would have been 13 years old and living at the Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts. While we do not know if Mary Ellen ever met Louisa, like many ladies in Massachusetts, Mary Ellen and her younger sister, Cora Tolman, would likely have become familiar with the writings of the wonderful author of LITTLE WOMEN, one of the first novels written just for girls. Based on the inscription in this copy of Life, Letters and Journals, it appears Cora gave the book to her niece Beatrice as a present when Beatrice was 21 years old. We can only imagine, as she grew into her 20s, young Beatrice following the newspapers and the life of the famed and inspiring Massachusetts writer, Louisa May Alcott, and carefully adding these clippings pasted throughout the book.
 
Condition Notes:
Good Condition.
Exterior: Binding is uniform with later Roberts Brothers reprints of Little Women, and some other Alcott books in the 1880s [BAL 221]. The front is decorated with black-stamped décor, and the spine with black-stamping and gold colored gilt.
Some light shelf wear around the top and bottom of the spine, and slight wear to top of front board. Light bumping of the board covers with some light fraying. ~1/4” tear in brown cloth is starting at the bottom joint of the spine and book cover; this is cosmetic and does not affect structure. The cover has some light scuffing, and one dark mark that is ~3” tall by 2” wide. The appearance of this mark depends on the light and angle that book is held at; but it is present. Scuff mark to back of book cover. With exceptions of these cosmetic scuffs and mark, the brown cloth remains remarkable clean and bright.
 
Inside: The page with the flower marked as being from Louisa’s grave, is completely detached. The rest of the binding is good/very good. Pages are crisps and clean. A few passages have pencil lines next to them as though a former owner marked a few favorite passages.
 
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