fascinate the young people, while inculcating sturdy courage and
kindness to the weak in the boys, and in the girls those virtues
which fit them for filling a woman's place in the home.
1. SPINNING-WHEEL STORIES
With twelve initial illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
2. SILVER PITCHERS: and Independence
16mo. $1.25.
3. PROVERB STORIES
16mo. $1.25.
4. A GARLAND FOR GIRLS
With illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
The above four volumes, uniformly bound in cloth, gilt, in box,
$5.00.
AUNT JO'S SCRAP BAG
Six books of jolly, readable stories told in Miss Alcott's best
style and sure to please young people.
1. MY BOYS
Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
2. SHAWL-STRAPS
Illustrated. Story of a voyage abroad. 16mo. $1.00
3. CUPID AND CHOW-CHOW
Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
4. MY GIRLS
Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
5. JIMMY'S CRUISE IN THE PINAFORE, ETC.
Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
6. AN OLD-FASHIONED THANKSGIVING
Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
The above six volumes, uniformly bound in cloth, gilt, in box, $6.00.
LULU'S LIBRARY
Delightful short stories, many of them founded on incidents from
Miss Alcott's life. Told so as to attract children, and all
showing the spirit of cheerful accomplishment in the face of
discouragements.
Three volumes. Each, $1.00. The set, uniformly bound in cloth,
gilt, in box, $3.00.
MISS ALCOTT'S NOVELS
HOSPITAL SKETCHES
and Camp and Fireside Stories. With illustrations. 16mo. $1.50.
WORK
A Story of Experience. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge. 16mo. $1.50.
MOODS
A Novel. 16mo. $1.50.
A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES
and a Whisper in the Dark. 16mo. $1.50.
Other Stories by LOUISA M. ALCOTT
A HOLE IN THE WALL. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
An account of a poor boy's admiration for a beautiful garden to
which he is invited by a little girl friend. ("How They Camped
Out" in same volume.)
MARJORIE'S THREE GIFTS. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
A fairy tale told Marjorie comes true, and there enter into her
life three good fairies: Industry, Cheerfulness, and Love.
("Roses and Forget-me-nots" in same volume.)
MAY FLOWERS. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
The experiences of six earnest young girls who try to make the
sad lives about them happier. Full of sensible hints as to
wisest methods of charity.
A CHRISTMAS DREAM. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
A rather spoiled child gets her first real enjoyment of
Christmas by making others happy. ("Baa! Baa!" in same volume.)
THE CANDY COUNTRY. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
A quaint little fable in which the young heroine visits
Candy-land and is finally contented to return to Bread-land.
("How They Ran Away" in same volume.)
LITTLE BUTTON ROSE. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
A bright, vivacious child visits her maiden aunts. Her
influence on the somewhat narrow characters about her is
delightfully described.
POPPIES AND WHEAT. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
Two girls travel through Europe. The frivolous Ethel learns the
advantages of culture and simple dignity from her companion.
MOUNTAIN-LAUREL AND MAIDENHAIR. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
The story of a New Hampshire farmer's daughter who is fond of
writing verses.
PANSIES AND WATER-LILIES. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
"Pansies" is a story of a girls' discussion of books;
"Water-Lilies" is a romance by the sea-shore.
THE DOLLS' JOURNEY. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
A droll account of the travels of two dolls. ("Shadow-Children"
and "The Moss People" in same volume.)
MORNING GLORIES AND QUEEN ASTOR. Illustrated. 12mo. 50 cents.
Aunt Wee changes Daisy from a petulant to a cheerful girl by
interesting her in the wonderful world of nature which Daisy has
never before learned to appreciate justly.
THE LITTLE MEN PLAY.
THE LITTLE WOMEN PLAY.
Adapted from Miss Alcott's famous stories, "Little Men" and
"Little Women," by Elizabeth L. Gould. Illustrated. 12mo. Price
50 cents each.
Two forty-five minute plays of two acts each, for eight or ten
little people. They will prove a source of limitless delight.
LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, Publishers
254 Washington St., Boston, Mass.
Transcriber's Notes:
Project Gutenberg has two versions of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Original Edition
Illustrated Edition
Welcome to the Project Gutenberg Illustrated Edition of Little Women by
Louisa May Alcott, published by Little, Brown, and Company. Some
versions of the book, such as this one, use the full title of the book
from the title page, _Little Women; Or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy_.
We used the version of the book from Little, Brown, and Company:
copyright 1896, for this transcription. A scanned copy of this book is
available through the internet archive, courtesy of the New York Public
Library.
A copy of the first version of the novel, published in 1869, was
consulted for emendations, the proper rendering of words hyphenated and
split between two lines for spacing, and other issues in transcribing
the novel. We are not trying to change this version of the novel back to
the 1869 novel, but correct the errors that were made in re-transcribing
and updating the text.
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
Passages in bold were indicated by =equal signs=.
Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of
the speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
Errors in punctuations and hyphenation were not corrected unless
otherwise noted below.
A note about spacing of illustrations: If there are four lines above the
illustration, then the illustration was at the top of a new chapter. If
there are four lines below the illustration, then the illustration was
at the end of a chapter. If there is two lines between a chapter heading
and the illustration, then the illustration was an inline illustration
(usually a drop-cap illustration).
On page vii, in the Table of Contents, change page 7 to 1 for the
beginning of Chapter One.
In the List of Illustrations, for the illustration on page 147,
"postmistress" was replaced with "post-mistress".
In the List of Illustrations, for the illustration on page 235,
"tea-pot" was replaced with "teapot".
On page 30, the punctuation after 'stained they are' may be a colon, but
on page 41 of the 1869 book, it is a semicolon. We used the semi-colon.
On page 34, transcribe red-headed with the hyphen. See page 44 of the
1869 novel.
On page 40, a period was added after "room where old Mr". See page 50 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 41, the semicolon after "Laurie went on the box" was replaced
with a comma. See page 52 of the 1869 novel.
On page 62, mantel-piece was transcribed with the hyphen. See Page 75 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 63, checked the clause "and I've been trying to do it this ever
so long." It is written the same way on page 77 of the 1869 book. No
change was made.
On page 64, add period after "red and shining with merriment." See page
79 of the 1869 book.
On page 68, changed weet to sweet in 'the damp weet air.' See page 84 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 79, add comma after I remain in the letter. See page 95 of the
1869 novel.
On page 84, ferrule was an adjustment from the 1869 book, which only
used one r in spelling the word (see page 101). Webster's dictionary
spells ferrule with two rs.
On page 109, a period was added after "and the old man quite dotes on
them". See page 130 of the 1869 novel.
On page 109, a period was added after "asked another voice". See page
131 of the 1869 novel.
On page 112, change colon to semicolon after "if you don't;"--see page
134 of the 1869 novel.
On page 113, transcribe ear-rings with the hyphen. See page 135 of the
1869 novel.
On Page 123, "One thing remember, my girls:" is written as it appears in
the 1896 novel. A comma instead of a colon was used after my girls in
the 1869 novel (see page 146). "One thing =to= remember," may work
better today, or even "Remember one thing," but we left this as Ms.
Alcott wrote it.
On Page 124, the P. C. is the Pickwick Club from a novel by Charles
Dickens. Samuel Pickwick, Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass, and
Nathaniel Winkle were introdued by Charles Dickens in the first chapter
of The Pickwick Papers. Samuel Weller makes his first appearance in
Chapter Ten of that novel.
On page 128, in the Pickwick Portfolio, there is no period after "it is
nearly school time" in N. Winkle's letter. This period was also missing
on page 151 of the 1869 novel. The missing period was intentional.
On page 135, the ambiguous punctuation after "Oh, dear, no!" is an
exclamation point. See page 160 of the 1869 novel.
On page 146, change buttonholes to button-holes. On page 173 of the 1869
novel, this word was hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing.
There were seven other occurrences of button-hole or button-holes in the
novel. We therefore used the hyphen.
On page 150, "Betty" was replaced with "Bethy". This error was also made
in the 1869 novel--see page 177. The character addressed is Beth.
On page 158, a period was added after "still kneeling". See page 187 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 160, "hard a lee" is spelled the same way in the 1869 novel (see
page 189) and this novel. We left this as is.
On page 166, a comma was added after "Meg" in "Meg obediently
following". See page 195 of the 1869 book.
On page 185, "receptable" was replaced with "receptacle". See page 217
of the 1869 novel.
On page 185, transcribe door-way with the hyphen. See page 217 of the
1869 novel. Also, change doorway to door-way a few lines down the same
page. See page 218 of the 1869 novel.
On page 189, the comma after "published every day" was replaced with a
period. See page 225 of 1869 book.
On page 198, the clause: "Beth, go and ask Mr. Laurence for a couple of
bottles of old wine:" was written as it appeared in the 1896 novel. The
clause ended in with a semi-colon in the 1869 book (see page 234).
On page 200, change needlework to needle-work. See page 236 of the 1869
novel.
On page 209, "turnovers" was replaced with "turn-overs". See page 246 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 214, the single quotation mark before "Head Nurse of Ward" was
replaced with a double quotation mark. See page 252 of the 1869 novel.
On page 218, "Year's ago" was replaced with "Years ago". See page 257 of
the 1869 novel.
On page 219, "ask him so help" was replaced with "ask him to help". See
page 257 of the 1869 novel.
On page 219, add period after "give it to her." See page 258 of the 1869
novel.
On page 230, "two, A.M." is spelled the same way, with the comma, in
this book and in the 1869 novel (on page 272). The comma was retained.
On page 244, "postscrips" was replaced with "postscripts". See page 287
of the 1869 novel.
On page 279, place exclamation point after won't in 'No, I won't!' See
page 329 in the 1869 novel.
On page 286, "actingly" was replaced with "acting". See page 337 of the
1869 novel.
On page 288, add comma after mankind in the clause "who felt at peace
with all mankind even his mischievous pupil." See page 339 of the 1869
novel.
On page 294, transcribe gray-headed with the hyphen. See page 5 of the
1869 novel.
On page 295, add a comma after salary in the phrase "with an
honestly-earned salary." See page 7 of the 1869 book.
Checked the clause "But once get used to these slight blemishes" on page
297. The sentence appears the same way on page 10 of the 1869 novel.
Checked the clause "People who hire all these things done for them never
know what they lose" on page 298. The sentence has a comma after them,
but is otherwise written the same way on page 11 of the 1869 novel.
On page 299, transcribe door-handles with the hyphen. See page 13 of the
1869 novel.
On page 339, "shortcomings" was replaced with "short-comings". See page
62 of the 1869 novel.
On page 345, "furbelows and notions" was written "furbelows and
quinny-dingles" in the 1869 novel. See page 59 of the 1869 novel. We
made no change, and only point this out because quinny-dingles is such a
memorable word that those intimate with the novel may notice the change.
On page 353, change snowbank to snow-bank. See page 79 of the 1869
novel.
On page 363, a double quotation mark was added before "Cross-patch, draw
the latch". See page 91 of the 1869 book.
On page 379, change period after Jo to a comma in the clause "as for Jo.
she would have gone up". See page 109 of the 1869 book.
On page 380, a comma was added after "all lying down". See page 111 of
the 1869 book.
On page 393, the punctuation after 'but so was everybody's' is difficult
to read. It could be a colon or semicolon. In the 1869 novel, the mark
is a semi-colon (see page 126). We used the semi-colon.
On page 396, the second line of the verse beginning with "'Out upon
you," is indented. In the 1869 version, the capital B of "Bold-faced
jig!'" is lined-up under Out. We aligned the verse as the 1869 version
of the novel--see page 131.
On page 404, add period after heaviness. See page 140 of the 1869 novel.
On page 405, transcribe needle-work with the hyphen. See page 141 of the
1869 book.
On Page 411, a letter is curiously addressed to Betsey, both here and on
page 148 of the 1869 book.
On Page 413, removed double quotes around Yes in "Yes," they say to one
another, these so kind ladies. Instead, place a single quote in front of
Yes, because Bhaer is resuming his quote. The resumed quote concludes
with a single quote after me and mine. See page 151 of the 1869 novel.
The double quote before 'he is a stupid old fellow' is actually a
triple-nested quote, ending in make themselves.
On page 417, transcribe Teddy-ism as Teddyism. See page 155 of the 1869
novel.
On page 451, a period was added after "I can't let you go". See page 196
of the 1869 novel.
On page 463, "Tarantula" was used as the name of a dance, but the author
might have meant "Tarantella," which is the name of an Italian dance
about tarantulas.
On page 468, transcribe chess-board with the hyphen. See page 218 of the
1869 novel.
On page 512, a period was added after "she said softly". If you see page
272 of the 1869 novel, you will also notice a comma in 'she said,
softly.' We added the period but not the comma.
On page 514, the 1869 novel did not have a comma after oar in the
sentence: "I'm not tired; but you may take an oar, if you like. See page
525 of the 1869 novel. We did not remove the comma.
On page 527, "the 'the best nevvy" was replaced with "the best nevvy".
On page 527, change he to the in 'like Jenny and he ballad'. See page
291 of the 1869 novel.
On page 531, David and Peggotty refer to two characters from the novel
"David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens.
On page 534, change of to off in the clause: Daisy found it impossible
to keep her eyes of her "pitty aunty," ... see page 300 of the 1869
novel.
On page 541, "know'st thou the land where the citron blooms," was broken
into two stanzas in the book for spacing. We transcribed this as one
line. See page 308 in 1869 novel.
On page 551, transcribe Dove-cote with the hyphen. See page 319 of the
1869 novel.
On the first page of ads, a period was added after "THE LITTLE WOMEN
SERIES. New Illustrated Edition".
On the second page of ads, in the blurb for the book Comic Tragedies, a
period as placed after "Portraits, etc".
After the novel is a list of The Works of Louisa May Alcott. The list is
not complete: for example, there are no listings for her work as Flora
Fairfield or A. M. Barnard. Nevertheless, the pages are a fine
structured outline of Ms. Alcott's best work.
Most of the novels and stories in these four pages are published by
Project Gutenberg. We included links to these titles for the reader's
convenience. A change had to be made for one item: We had to list each
of the three volumes of Lulu's Library to provide the links to that
book. These links will only work in the HTML document.
The final page is a listing of eleven stories originally published in
other volumes, such as Jo's Scrap-Bag, Lulu's Library, and A Garland for
Girls. These works were subsequently published separately in small
volumes, generally less than 100 pages, in The Children's Friend Series.