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Little Women
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Little Women Hardcover - 0040

by Louisa May Alcott; Daniel Shealy (Editor)

First published in 1868, "Little Women" became an instant bestseller. In this annotated edition, Alcott scholar Shealy illuminates the novel's engagement with social equality, reform movements, the Civil War, friendship, love, loss, and the central question: How does one grow up well? Illustrations.


About this book

Little Women (or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, it was published in two parts in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—on their way into adulthood while their father serves as a chaplain in the American Civil War. 

Although it is not based on a true story, it is loosely inspired by the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters and her father’s educational philosophy. Amos Bronson Alcott, a pioneer of “progressive education,” was a notable intellectual at the time. 

The book was an assignment of Alcott’s editor Thomas Niles, who wanted a novel for young women for the Robert Brothers publishing catalog. Although she initially despised the idea of writing a "girls' story," once she started, her writing became feverish. The first volume was published in 1868 with illustrations by Louisa’s younger sister May - the inspiration for the character of ‘Amy’ in the novel. It became an immediate hit, and the initial printing of two thousand copies sold out in two weeks. Little Women's original book cover was maroon cloth with gilt lettering, and it has become one of the most iconic Little Women book covers. 

The second part of the novel was issued in 1869, under the title of Good Wives in the UK. The novel is still published separately in some instances, although starting in 1880 the two parts were published as one single volume under Little Women in the US.

Little Women has been adapted into a film on four different occasions. The first one was George Cukor’s 1933 version, which cast Katharine Hepburn as Jo, followed by the 1949 Mervyn LeRoy adaptation, and the 1994 film directed by Gilliam Armstrong, the first one directed, adapted, and produced by women. The most recent version was in 2019 by director Greta Gerwig and stars Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan, and Eliza Scanlen. 

Alcott’s most successful work has had notable cultural relevance all over the world. The ambitious and free-spirited Jo March has inspired women writers since its publication. Her unpretentious depiction of the March sisters and their aims and frustrations distinguish the work from the pious and moral tales of the time. 

If you are looking for books like Little Women, the novel has two sequels that constitute an unofficial trilogy: Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys (1871), which tells the story of Jo Bhaer (formerly March), Professor Bhaer, and the children at Plumfield Estate School; and the followup, Jo’s Boys and How They Turned Out (1886).

From the publisher

Little Women has delighted and instructed readers for generations. For many, it is a favorite book first encountered in childhood or adolescence. Championed by Gertrude Stein, Simone de Beauvoir, Theodore Roosevelt, and J. K. Rowling, it is however much more than the "girls' book" intended by Alcott's first publisher. In this richly annotated, illustrated edition, Daniel Shealy illuminates the novel's deep engagement with issues such as social equality, reform movements, the Civil War, friendship, love, loss, and of course the passage into adulthood. The editor provides running commentary on biographical contexts (Did Alcott, like Jo, have a "mood pillow"?), social and historical contexts (When may a lady properly decline a gentleman's invitation to dance?), literary allusions (Who is Mrs. Malaprop?), and words likely to cause difficulty to modern readers (What is a velvet snood? A pickled lime?). With Shealy as a guide, we appreciate anew the confusions and difficulties that beset the March sisters as they overcome their burdens and journey toward maturity and adulthood: beautiful, domestic-minded Meg, doomed and forever childlike Beth, selfish Amy, and irrepressible Jo. This edition examines the novel's central question: How does one grow up well? Little Women: An Annotated Edition offers something for everyone. It will delight both new and returning readers, young and old, male and female alike, who will want to own and treasure this beautiful edition full of color illustrations and photographs.

First Edition Identification

The first US edition of Little Women was published in 1868 by the Roberts Brothers, Boston and includes an advertisement in the back pricing Little Women at $1.25. The second part was published in 1869. Each volume is illustrated with a frontispiece and three plates; those in the first part of Little Women were created by the author’s sister, May. Originally bound in purple cloth with gold lettering. The first UK edition was published by Sampson Low in 1869.

Details

  • Title Little Women
  • Author Louisa May Alcott; Daniel Shealy (Editor)
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition Annotated
  • Pages 640
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Belknap Press, Cambridge Mass
  • Date FIC004000
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780674059719 / 0674059719
  • Weight 4.25 lbs (1.93 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.7 x 9.5 x 1.9 in (24.64 x 24.13 x 4.83 cm)
  • Reading level 640
  • Themes
    • Topical: Coming of Age
  • Library of Congress subjects Mothers and daughters, Domestic fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012036745
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Choice, 10/01/2013, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 05/01/2013, Page 78

About the author

Daniel Shealy has edited or co-edited eleven books about Louisa May Alcott, including The Journals of Louisa May Alcott. He is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
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Little Women: An Annotated Edition
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Little Women: An Annotated Edition
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