Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag: My Boys, Etc. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1872.
Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. New York: William Morrow, 1975.
Eight Cousins, or, The Aunt-Hill. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1875.
Flower Fables. Boston: George W. Briggs, 1855.
A Garland for Girls. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1888.
Hospital Sketches and Camp and Fireside Stories. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1869.
The Inheritance. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998.
Jack and Jill: A Village Story. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1880.
Jo’s Boys, and How They Turned Out. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1886.
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott. Edited by Joel Myerson and Daniel Shealy; Madeleine B. Stern, associate editor. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871.
Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1868–69.
Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy: A Norton Critical Edition. Edited by Anne K. Phillips and Gregory Eiselein. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004.
A Modern Mephistopheles. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1877.
Moods. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1882.
An Old-Fashioned Girl. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1870.
Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins. Roberts Brothers, 1876.
The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Edited by Joel Myerson and Daniel Shealy; Madeleine B. Stern, associate editor. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1995.
Spinning-Wheel Stories. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1884.
Under the Lilacs. Roberts Brothers, 1878
Work: A Story of Experience. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1873.
ABOUT LOUISA MAY ALCOTT AND HER FAMILY
Alcott, Abigail May. My Heart Is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa’s Mother. Edited by Eve LaPlante. New York: Free Press, 2012.
Alcott, A. Bronson. How Like an Angel Came I Down: Conversations with Children on the Gospels. Edited by Alice O. Howell. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Books, 1991.
——— . The Journals of A. Bronson Alcott. Edited by Odell Shepard. Boston: Little, Brown, 1938.
——— . The Letters of A. Bronson Alcott. Edited by Richard Herrnstadt. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1969.
Alcott, May. Studying Art Abroad, and How to Do It Cheaply. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1879.
Barton, Cynthia H. Transcendental Wife: The Life of Abigail May Alcott. Lanham, NY: University Press of America, 1996.
Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: Biography of a Family. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1980.
Cheney, Edna Dow. Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1889.
Eiselein, Gregory, and Anne K. Phillips, eds. The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott’s Place in American Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
Gowing, Clara. The Alcotts As I Knew Them. Boston: C. M. Clark, 1909.
LaPlante, Eve. Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother. New York: Free Press, 2012.
Matteson, John. Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.
Meigs, Cornelia. Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women. Boston: Little, Brown, 1933.
Reisen, Harriet. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. New York: Henry Holt, 2009.
Saxton, Martha. Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott. New York: Avon, 1978.
Shealy, Daniel, ed. Alcott in Her Own Time. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2005.
——— . Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters’ Letters from Europe, 1870–1871. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2008.
Shepard, Odell. Pedlar’s Progress: The Life of Bronson Alcott. Boston: Little, Brown, 1937.
Stern, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott: A Biography. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996.
Ticknor, Caroline. May Alcott: A Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928.
Acknowledgments
AMERICA IS A young country: so young that, between the two of us, Louisa May Alcott’s father and I have drawn breath during the lifetime of every single American president. Yet the country is also old enough to have experienced a sobering amount of collective memory loss. Social, economic, and technological revolutions stand between us and the 1860s, and the world of the March family—a world of telegraphy instead of text-messaging; of horses instead of Hondas, Hummers, and hybrids—can feel distant indeed. The Alcotts and everyone who knew them are long gone, and all we have left of them are words, pictures, and a few lovingly preserved places and artifacts. One always wishes that not quite so much had been consumed by the teeth of time.
Yet, like the country whose spirit it captures and celebrates, Little Women remains a young book: vital and sprightly in its energy and humor, innocently confident in its moral perspectives, and perennially powerful in its hold on youthful readers. Every time another girl (and, one hopes, boy) turns its pages, Little Women is reborn.
This edition strives to re-create, in every available dimension, the lives of the Marches and the Alcotts: not only the events that shaped them, but also the art that inspired them, the places they knew, the food they ate, and the clothes they wore. As far as a book can achieve such a goal, it hopes to provide a 360° experience of a bygone time, restoring all of the freshness of spirit with which it was lived.
In such an undertaking, many willing hands are required. In this project, none have been wanting. Many have been present only as inspirations rather than as active collaborators, but these were not any less essential. The fairly small but dedicated band of scholars and enthusiasts who work on Louisa May Alcott are a tremendously kind and generous group. The knowledge that one is carrying on their work is a powerful motivation. Benefiting from all they have accomplished is a priceless gift. And so the first thanks go to them: the late Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine B. Stern; Joel Myerson; Daniel Shealy; Eve LaPlante; Cathlin Davis; Susan Bailey; Sarah Elbert; Gregory Eiselein; Anne K. Phillips; Sandy Petrulionis; Mary Shelden; Lisa Stepanski; and others unsung but equally respected and admired.
How might I best describe my ongoing association with Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts? For more than a decade now, I have looked to Orchard House for the sustaining force of a creative partnership and the warmth of an extended family. From the house’s stellar executive director, the marvelous Jan Turnquist, all the way down to the most recent volunteer, Orchard House has been unfailingly supportive and cooperative, generously sharing its time and opening its most cherished collections for use in this volume. To Jay and Maria Powers, for their work in assembling many of the images for this volume under especially trying circumstances, some very special thanks are due.
Jim Coutré’s photography at Orchard House was meticulous and discerning, but we also had fun. Ron Mandelbaum at Photofest was supremely solicitous, helpful, and patient. Fay Torresyap worked miracles in garnering permissions for images far and wide. Amy Cherry, my editor at Norton, continues to personify professionalism and discernment, reining in my excesses with humor, warmth, and good fellowship. I have likewise valued the support of her assistants, Anna Mageras and Remy Cawley. Norton’s art department was indispensable in making this volume a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Peter Steinberg handled the contract for this book with his customary grace and goodwill. My gratitude is enduring.
When I began teaching as a full-time substitute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 1997, I little imagined the remarkable places to which that association would lead. Now, seventeen years into a unique and memorable journey, I hope the future holds at least as many more. To all my friends, students and colleagues in the English Department, in the Honors and Macaulay Honors Programs, and to e
veryone else in every corner of the college who has offered help along the way, my most heartfelt thanks.
Louisa May Alcott knew a great deal about many things, but what she knew best was family. Only through the peace and joy of my own family have I been able to understand the beauty of hers. To my wife Michelle and daughter Rebecca go the deepest thanks of all.
OTHER ANNOTATED BOOKS FROM W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
The Annotated Alice
by Lewis Carroll, edited with an introduction
and notes by Martin Gardner
The Annotated Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum, edited with an introduction
and notes by Michael Patrick Hearn
The Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain, edited with an introduction
and notes by Michael Patrick Hearn
The Annotated Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, edited with an introduction
and notes by Michael Patrick Hearn
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volumes I, II, and III
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with an introduction by John LeCarré,
edited with a preface and notes by Leslie S. Klinger
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
edited with an introduction and notes by Maria Tatar
The Annotated Brothers Grimm
by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, with an introduction by A. S. Byatt,
edited with a preface and notes by Maria Tatar
The Annotated Hunting of the Snark
by Lewis Carroll, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik,
edited with notes by Martin Gardner
The Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe, edited with an introduction
and notes by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins
The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
translated by Maria Tatar and Julie Allen, with an introduction
and notes by Maria Tatar
The Annotated Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, edited with an introduction
and notes by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
The New Annotated Dracula
by Bram Stoker, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman,
edited with a preface and notes by Leslie S. Klinger
The Annotated Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, with an introduction by Brian Jacques,
edited with a preface and notes by Annie Gauger
The Annotated Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie, edited with an introduction and notes by Maria Tatar
The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft
with an introduction by Alan Moore, edited with a foreword and notes by
Leslie S. Klinger
ALSO BY JOHN MATTESON
The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography
Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father
Copyright © 2016 by John Matteson
All rights reserved
First Edition
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Book design by JAM design
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Alcott, Louisa May, 1832–1888.
[Little women]
The annotated Little women / Louisa May Alcott ; edited with an
introduction and notes by John Matteson.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-393-07219-8 (hardcover)
1. March family (Fictitious characters)—Juvenile fiction.
2. Families—New England—Juvenile fiction. 3. Sisters—Fiction.
4. New England—Fiction. 5. Domestic fiction. I. Matteson, John, editor,
writer of added commentary. II. Title.
PS1017.L5 2015
813’.4—dc23
2015017678
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