Louisa May Alcott


"Poor dull Concord. Nothing colorful has come through here since the Redcoats."
-Louisa May Alcott

Born in Germantown, PA, on November 29, 1832, the most famous daughter of transcendentalist (and Emerson friend) Amos Bronson Alcott moved to Concord in 1840. The young Alcott liked to produce her plays with the help of her sisters and take nature walks with fellow Concordian Henry David Thoreau. (See Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute, in the list of books below.) Wishing to instill a greater love of nature in his girls and to live the precepts of fundamentalism, Bronson Alcott moved the family to Fruitlands (www.fruitlands.org), a utopian community in neighboring Harvard, MA, in 1843. They returned to Concord two years later after enduring great privation and hardship in the unsuccessful community.

Life in Concord was not much easier, so the family moved again-this time to Boston-in 1849. At the tender age of seventeen, Alcott took on the responsibility for easing the family's financial burdens. She sought out the limited jobs available to a young girl of the time, caring for the elderly, doing laundry, and teaching small children. Meanwhile, she was busy writing, and in 1851 published a poem in a magazine under a pseudonym, launching her literary career. Her first book, Flower Fables, a collection of fairy-tales and poems that she had originally written to entertain Emerson's daughter, followed in 1854. When Bronson moved the family back to Concord in 1856, purchasing Orchard House (www.louisamayalcott.org) for them, Alcott lingered in Boston to advance her writing career, but she was forced to rejoin the family a year later following her younger sister's death from scarlet fever and her older sister's marriage, events she would eventually incorporate in the autobiographical Little Women.

At age 30, Alcott went to Washington, DC, to serve as a nurse tending wounded Civil War soldiers. Her second book, Hospital Sketches soon followed. Little Women made its debut in 1868 as the first volume of a two-volume novel, the second, Good Wives, appearing a year later. During the next twenty years, she would publish an astonishing array of poetry books, Gothic thrillers (see A Long Fatal Love Chase, below), children's stories, and novels. In addition to being a prolific writer, she also was an ardent suffragist (the first woman to vote in Concord), an avid abolitionist, and a social and educational reformer.

During her stint as a Civil War nurse in 1862, Alcott had contracted typhoid fever. The popular treatment for fever at the time was quinine and calomel, or mercury chloride, a mineral that cured the disease but eventually killed the patient. In 1888, at age 56, Alcott succumbed to the long-term effects of mercury poisoning and died, leaving behind a legacy of classics that have endured the test of time.


Little Women (Modern Library Classics) By Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever (Introduction by)
$18.00
ISBN: 9780375756726
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Published: Modern Library - January 9th, 2001

A Long Fatal Love Chase By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780440223016
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Published: Dell - December 2nd, 1996

Hospital Sketches By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780918222787
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - August 1st, 1989

Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers Of Louisa May Alcott By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780688151324
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - February 14th, 1997

Louisa May Alcott: Work, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Stories & Other Writings  (LOA #256) (Library of America Louisa May Alcott Edition #2) By Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever (Editor) Cover Image
$40.00
ISBN: 9781598533064
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Published: Library of America - August 28th, 2014

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys (LOA #156) (Library of America Louisa May Alcott Edition #1) By Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor) Cover Image
$40.00
ISBN: 9781931082730
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Published: Library of America - February 17th, 2005

Little Women (Puffin in Bloom) By Louisa May Alcott, Anna Bond (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Anna Bond (Illustrator)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780147514011
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Published: Puffin Books - August 28th, 2014

Little Women (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$10.99
ISBN: 9780142408766
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Published: Puffin Books - March 27th, 2008

Little Women (Classic Starts(r)) By Louisa May Alcott, Deanna McFadden (Abridged by), Lucy Corvino (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Deanna McFadden (Abridged by), Lucy Corvino (Illustrator)
$6.95
ISBN: 9781402712364
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Published: Union Square Kids - March 1st, 2005

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott, Regina Barreca (Introduction by), Susan Straight (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Regina Barreca (Introduction by), Susan Straight (Afterword by)
$5.95
ISBN: 9780451532084
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Published: Signet - May 1st, 2012

Little Women (150th Anniversary Edition) By Louisa May Alcott, J. Courtney Sullivan (Foreword by), Shreya Gupta (Drawings by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, J. Courtney Sullivan (Foreword by), Shreya Gupta (Drawings by)
$30.00
ISBN: 9780316489270
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Published: Little, Brown and Company - September 25th, 2018

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor), Elaine Showalter (Introduction by), Siobhán Kilfeather (Notes by), Vinca Showalter (Notes by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor), Elaine Showalter (Introduction by), Siobhán Kilfeather (Notes by), Vinca Showalter (Notes by)
$10.00
ISBN: 9780140390698
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Published: Penguin Classics - January 1st, 1989

Little Women: 150th-Anniversary Annotated Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) By Louisa May Alcott, Patti Smith (Foreword by), Anne Boyd Rioux (Editor), Anne Boyd Rioux (Introduction by), Anne Boyd Rioux (Notes by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Patti Smith (Foreword by), Anne Boyd Rioux (Editor), Anne Boyd Rioux (Introduction by), Anne Boyd Rioux (Notes by)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780143106654
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Published: Penguin Classics - April 24th, 2012

Little Women: The Original Classic Novel Featuring Photos from the Film! By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781419741203
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Published: Amulet Books - November 5th, 2019

Little Women (Word Cloud Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781607105480
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Published: Canterbury Classics - September 1st, 2012

Eight Cousins (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780140374568
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Published: Puffin Books - September 1st, 1995

Rose in Bloom (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780140374513
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Published: Puffin Books - September 1st, 1995

Little Men (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780141366081
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Published: Puffin Books - March 8th, 2016

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.95
ISBN: 9780553212754
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Published: Bantam Classics - April 1st, 1983

Little Women (Dover Children's Evergreen Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780486410234
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Published: Dover Publications - March 24th, 2000

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott, Anna South (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Anna South (Introduction by)
$14.99
ISBN: 9781509827770
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Published: Macmillan Collector's Library - February 7th, 2017

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott, Scott McKowen (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Scott McKowen (Illustrator)
$14.95
ISBN: 9781402714580
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Published: Union Square Kids - October 1st, 2004

Little Women (Penguin Clothbound Classics) By Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor), Elaine Showalter (Introduction by), Siobhán Kilfeather (Notes by), Vinca Showalter (Notes by), Coralie Bickford-Smith (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor), Elaine Showalter (Introduction by), Siobhán Kilfeather (Notes by), Vinca Showalter (Notes by), Coralie Bickford-Smith (Illustrator)
$26.00
ISBN: 9780141192413
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Published: Penguin Classics - September 28th, 2010

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$9.00
ISBN: 9780486828060
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Published: Dover Publications - September 12th, 2018

A Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories (Penguin Christmas Classics #2) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780143122463
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Published: Penguin Classics - October 8th, 2014

Jo's Boys (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780141366098
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Published: Puffin Books - March 8th, 2016

Little Women (Oxford World's Classics) By Louisa May Alcott, Valerie Alderson (Editor) Cover Image
$8.95
ISBN: 9780199538119
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Published: Oxford University Press, USA - March 15th, 2009

Mujercitas / Little Women By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$12.95
ISBN: 9788491050476
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Published: Penguin Clásicos - January 26th, 2016

The Annotated Little Women (The Annotated Books) By Louisa May Alcott, John Matteson (Editor) Cover Image
$39.95
ISBN: 9780393072198
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Published: W. W. Norton & Company - November 2nd, 2015

An Old-Fashioned Girl (Puffin Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780140374490
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Published: Puffin Books - November 1st, 1996

Little Women (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$6.99
ISBN: 9780679861751
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Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - July 5th, 1994

An Old-Fashioned Girl (Dover Children's Evergreen Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780486460154
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Published: Dover Publications - September 19th, 2007

Little Women (Enriched Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9781416599715
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Published: Simon & Schuster - May 12th, 2009

Little Men (Little Women Series) By Louisa May Alcott, J.T. Barbarese, John Matteson (Introduction by) Cover Image
$5.95
ISBN: 9780451532237
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Published: Signet - October 2nd, 2012

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781557091352
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - May 4th, 2010

Little Women: Illustrated by M. E. Gray (Everyman's Library Children's Classics Series) By Louisa May Alcott, M. E. Gray (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, M. E. Gray (Illustrator)
$20.00
ISBN: 9780679436423
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Published: Everyman's Library - November 22nd, 1994

Eight Cousins (Dover Children's Evergreen Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.99
ISBN: 9780486455594
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Published: Dover Publications - February 27th, 2007

Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography By Martha Saxton Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780374524609
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Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - September 30th, 1995

Civil War Hospital Sketches By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780486449005
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Published: Dover Publications - February 10th, 2006

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women By Harriet Reisen Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9780312658878
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Published: Picador - October 26th, 2010

Transcendental Wild Oats By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781557090966
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - August 25th, 2010

Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography By Susan Cheever Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781416569923
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Published: Simon & Schuster - November 8th, 2011

Jo's Boys (Little Women Series) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$5.95
ISBN: 9780553214499
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Published: Bantam Classics - September 1st, 1995

Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals By Louisa May Alcott, Ednah Cheney (Editor) Cover Image
$19.95
ISBN: 9781429044608
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Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - August 19th, 2010

Jo's Boys: In Easy-To-Read Type (Dover Children's Thrift Classics) By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
$4.00
ISBN: 9780486407890
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Published: Dover Publications - November 17th, 2011

Little Women (Modern Plays #11) By Louisa May Alcott, Emma Reeves (Adapted by) Cover Image
By Louisa May Alcott, Emma Reeves (Adapted by)
$16.95
ISBN: 9781840025231
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Published: Oberon Books - September 1st, 2005

Under the Lilacs By Louisa May Alcott Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781429093118
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - July 10th, 2012

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Little Women (Classic Graphic Remix) By Rey Terciero, Bre Indigo (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Rey Terciero, Bre Indigo (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9780316522885
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Published: Little, Brown Ink - February 5th, 2019

Little Women: A Babylit(r) Playtime Primer By Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver (Illustrator)
$11.99
ISBN: 9781423643890
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Published: Babylit - September 6th, 2016

Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War By Samantha Seiple Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781580058049
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Published: Seal Press - February 26th, 2019