Antony Brade :: :: University of Virginia Library

A collection of fugitive tales and sketches which we should have been sorry to
lose. Miss Alcott's boys and girls are always delightful in her hands. She
throws a loving glamour over them; and she loves them herself so heartily that it
is not possible for the reader to do otherwise. We have found the book very
pleasant to read.

From the New York Tribune.

The large and increasing circle of juveniles who sit enchanted year in and out
round the knees of Miss Alcott will hail with delight the publication of “Aunt
Jo's Scrap-Bag.” The most taking of these taking tales is, to our fancy, “My
Boys;” but all possess the quality which made “Little Women” so widely popular,
and the book will be welcomed and read from Maine to Florida.

Mrs. Hale, in Godey's Lady's Book.

These little stories are in every way worthy of the author of “Little Women.”
They will be read with the sincerest pleasure by thousands of children, and in
that pleasure there will not be a single forbidden ingredient. “My Boys,” which,
opening upon by chance, we read through at a sitting, is charming. Ladislas, the
noble, sweet-tempered Pole, is the original of Laurie, ever to be remembered by
all “Aunt Jo's” readers.

From the Providence Press.

Dear Aunt Jo! You are embalmed in the thoughts and loves of thousands
of little men and little women. Your scrap-bag is rich in its stores of good things.
Pray do not close and put it away quite yet.

This is Louisa Alcott's Christmas tribute to the young people, and it is, like
herself, good. In making selections, “Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag” must not be forgotten.
There will be a vacant place where this little volume is not.

Sold everywhere. Mailed, postpaid, by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag.

By LOUISA M. ALCOTT.

Vol. II., comprising “Shawl-Straps.”

16mo. Cloth, gilt. Price $1.00.

From the Morning Star.

Nobody expects from Miss Alcott any thing but books of the raciest qualities
and the choicest flavors. This story of her foreign travel, in company with two
female friends, is just as vivacious and unique as any thing previously issued with
her name on the title-page. One may have read the narratives and notes of forty
tourists over the same field, but he cannot afford to neglect this story. He will
find nothing repeated either in substance or form. It is a new vein that is here
worked, and the products are all singularly fresh. It is a rare literary bundle
which these shawl-straps enclose.

Mr. Whipple, in the Boston Globe.

Roberts Brothers have published a small volume the mere announcement of
which is enough to insure its circulation. This volume is “Shawl-Straps,” a
second part of “Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag,” by Louisa M. Alcott, — a name well
known to all “little men,” and “little women,” and “old-fashioned girls,” now
inhabiting the country. The book is a racy, almost rollicking account of the personal
experiences of three American women travelling in France, Switzerland,
Italy, and England.

Miss Alcott carefully abstains from writing what is called a book of travels,
and confines herself to giving an amusing account of what really occurred to
herself and her two companions. Thus, in London, the party devoted much
more time in hunting up Dickens's characters than in visiting “leading objects of
interest.” They nearly succeeded in finding Mrs. Gamp, and actually took “weal
pie and porter” at Mrs. Todger's. The description of Spurgeon and his congregation
is the most life-like we have ever read. Indeed the whole tone of the book
is that of conversation, in which the familiarity of ordinary talk is accompanied
with more than ordinary certainty of phrase, so that her readers may, in some
sense, be said to join the party and become “Shawl-Strappists” themselves. It
may be added that one is never tired of any record of a foreign tour which makes
him or her a companion of the journey; and, as Miss Alcott succeeds in doing
this, the principal objection which will be made to her book is its shortness.

Sold everywhere. Mailed, postpaid, by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

WORK:
A STORY OF EXPERIENCE.

By LOUISA M. ALCOTT,
Author of “Little Women,” “An Old-Fashioned Girl,
“Little Men.”

With Character Illustrations by Sol Eytinge.

16mo, cloth, gilt. Price $1.75.

Rev. H. W. Beecher, the Editor of the “Christian Union,” says: —

“This week our columns witness a parting which, we believe, will be matter
of regret to thousands of our readers, — between `Christie' and all who have
followed her fortunes in Miss Alcott's serial. We owe to the author our hearty
editorial acknowledgment for the great pleasure, and the something more than
pleasure, which she has furnished to our wide-spread family of readers. With
most of them, we doubt not, her heroine has been `first favorite,' since her
appearance, six months ago. Right well we know that our solemn editorial
preachments, nay, our very best editorial attempts at being wise and witty together,
— with all the learning, poetry, orthodoxy, and heresy of the other departments, —
have been utterly slighted by most readers of the `Christian Union' until they
had eagerly followed the fortunes of Christie and her friends down to the unwelcome
`To be Continued,' until, this week, is reached the still more unwelcome
`The End.'”

The New Bedford “Standard” says: —

“It is seldom that an author can achieve four successive triumphs such as
Miss Alcott has in `Little Women,' `Little Men,' `Old-Fashioned Girl,' and
now in this new candidate for public favor.”

The New York “Mail” says: —

“No novel can be purposeless which brings sunshine into the home or the
heart, and to say that Miss Alcott's books hitherto have been without purpose is
to use the word in very limited meaning. She has done a vast deal of good. But
now she has reached that higher stage of development in which purpose is not
simply a factor, but the chief factor of writing. She would do something more
than entertain, however blessed that in itself be; she would exert her utmost
powers directly in uplifting. That is good for her and for her readers. She is
proving herself even a greater writer than her admirable `Little Women' series
asserts. For that canon of art which rules out work because it is purposeful
restrains the scope of art within too narrow bounds. Purpose is the inspiration
of the highest art.”

Sold by all Bookseller. Mailed, postpaid, by the Publishers,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.