Descrizione

First Edition and First Printing. INSCRIBED, SIGNED, AND DATED by the editor, Kent Bicknell, on the page at the rear explaining the text. With lovely engraved-style chapter headings. Tall 8vo, publisher's original maroon paper-covered boards backed in maroon cloth, the upper cover and spine gilt lettered, portrait endpapers with manuscript facsimile, in the original dustjacket with gilt lettering and images of a rose tied with jute. [ii], 242, [4] pp. A mint copy, pristine and perfectly preserved.

Edizione: a pristine copy, inscribed by editor kent bicknell, of alcott's posthumously published 1866 gothic romance. two years before the publication of little women, alcott uncharacteristically experimented with the style of the thriller, it was rejecked by her publisher for being too sensational. the now published version is based on an early draft of her manuscript, prior to her extensive revisions to tone down the more controversial elements. this early manuscript was auctioned by alcott's heirs, and in 1994, made its way to kent bicknell, headmaster of the sant bani school in sanbornton, new hampshire. after restoring it, he sold the publication rights to random house, thus finally bringing a 129 years-long publishing saga to fruition. contemporary critics where impressed by the strong feminist elements, fast-moving story, curiously contemporary “stalker” theme, and the conspicuous lack of the domesticity found in alcott's other works, such as little women.