The Annotated Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Author), John Matteson (Editor)

When Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in 1868—just three years after the end of the Civil War and less than a century after the first shots of the Revolutionary War rang out in her hometown of Concord, Massachusetts—could she have imagined that the character of Jo March, who she modeled on herself, would still ring true for ambitious, bookish, free-spirited girls today?

How many millions of us have found ourselves in her words: “I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle—something heroic, or wonderful—that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don't know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all, some day.”

In putting her own ambitions to paper, Alcott gave generations of girls a template for dreaming big, and living boldly. ―Amy Traverso, Yankee senior food editor

The Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer of Louisa May Alcott illuminates the world of Little Women and its author.

Since its publication in 1868–69, Little Women, perhaps America’s most beloved children’s classic, has been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. It has been translated into more than fifty languages and inspired six films, four television shows, a Broadway musical, an opera, and a web series. This lavish, four-color edition features over 220 curated illustrations, including stills from the films, stunning art by Norman Rockwell, and iconic illustrations by children’s-book illustrators Alice Barber Stevens, Frank T. Merrill, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

Renowned Alcott scholar John Matteson brings his expertise to the book, to the March family it creates, and to the Alcott family who inspired it all. Through numerous photographs taken in the Alcott family home expressly for this edition―elder daughter Anna’s wedding dress, the Alcott sisters’ theater costumes, sister May’s art, and Abba Alcott’s recipe book―readers discover the extraordinary links between the real and the fictional family.

Matteson’s annotations evoke the once-used objects and culture of a distant but still-relevant time, from the horse-drawn carriages to the art Alcott carefully placed in her story to references to persons little known today. His brilliant introductory essays examine Little Women’s pivotal place in children’s literature and tell the story of Alcott herself―a tale every bit as captivating as her fiction.

• Publisher:‎ W. W. Norton & Company
• Edition: ‎Annotated, Hardcover
• Print length:‎ 744 pages
• Item Weight:‎ 4.86 pounds
• Dimensions:‎ 9 x 2.1 x 10.4 inches