FLOWER FABLES (1855; REPRINTED, WITH ADDITIONS, AS THE FROST KING, VOL. 2 OF LULU’S LIBRARY, 1887)
Boston Evening Transcript 25.7507 (20 December 1854): [1]:4.
It contains several agreeable sketches, in prose and verse, adapted to the capacity of intelligent young persons.
Saturday Evening Gazette (23 December 1854): [2].
Very sweet are these little legends of faery land, which those of our young friends, who are so fond of tales of enchantment, will, we are sure, peruse with avidity. The interest which children take in fairy tales is well known, and the infant mind is more susceptible to truths under such a guise, than in the more direct tales of a moral character.
Boston Commonwealth 26.10 (5 November 1887): [4]:7.
A book that every imaginative child will want to find among her holiday gifts is the new volume in Lulu’s Library by Louisa M. Alcott. Most of these stories were written while the author was in early youth, and have all the charm of enthusiasm and fancy that might be expected of this friend of the children in the fanciful days of her own youth. They consist of flower fables, and while gratifying the child-love for fairy-lore are wholly free from the objectionable elements of the traditional fairy tale, love and good-will being the key upon which each is pitched. The volume is brilliantly brought out by Roberts Brothers, Boston.
Templeton. The Hartford Courant 51.262 (5 November 1887): 2:2.
The best selling book on Roberts’s present list is one that perhaps the older readers of The Courant will not give much time to, but which the younger people of course must peruse with satisfaction. I refer to Miss Louisa M. Alcott’s second volume in “Lulu’s Library,” which is published in a neat little book, embellished with engravings that are so very pretty that I wish I could give credit here to the artist who made them.
The Christian Register 66.45 (10 November 1887): 715:2.
This is another collection of short stories by the author who has so endeared herself to children that the mere mention of her name as its writer will make them long to possess it. There are some good, wholesome lessons, as well as pleasant bits of description, in these volumes that make up “Lulu’s Library.” This number is dedicated to Miss Ellen Emerson.
The Independent 39.2032 (10 November 1887): 1458:1.
We like the downright honesty of Miss L. M. Alcott’s preface to Lulu’s Library, in which she confesses that most of the stories in the fascinating volumes which compose the series were written when she was sixteen, for her younger sisters, and published afterward under the name of ‘Flower Fables.’ This honest frankness is as reassuring as it is rare, and throws over the stories the interesting light of their exceedingly young authorship, an authorship so young as to be almost romantic, and to place them in the catalogue of literary feats. We envy Miss Alcott the pleasure of reviewing these achievements of her girlhood, and more than all we envy her that with her ripened judgment and long literary experience she can review them now and discover that they still hold their own in the front rank of their class.
Boston Evening Transcript 60.18,571 (11 November 1887): 6:5.
Another volume of Louise M. Alcott’s charming fairy tales is before us. These stories are inscribed to Ellen T. Emerson, “one of the good fairies who still remain to us, beloved by poets, little children and many grateful hearts.” Most of these stories were written for Miss Alcott’s little sisters and the little Emersons and Channings. They appeared under the name of “Flower Fables” some years ago, and are now republished for these children’s children. “Lily-bell and Thistledown,” “ Ripple, the Water Sprite,” and many others of these stories are full of poetry and imagination, and will delight the heart of the child who loves fairy stories and enjoys having everything in Nature personified and made to think and act and talk like a living being. Both volumes ⅰ. and ⅱ. of Lulu’s Library are good Christmas presents for the little ones.
“Lulu’s Library.” Boston Courier 93.120 (13 November 1887): 2:5.
The second volume of “Lulu’s Library” by Louise M. Alcott, contains about a dozen fairy tales, written in the author’s youth, and now re-written for this use[.] The little stories are graceful and pretty, and possess that wonderful and attractive flavor which gives to Miss Alcott’s work such a charm, and which perhaps is better described as humanness than as anything else.
The Providence Sunday Journal 3.18 (13 November 1887): 2:4.
The second volume of “Lulu’s Library” has a history that will make it more interesting to youthful readers. The stories it contains were written when Miss Alcott was sixteen years old, for her younger sisters, the little Emersons and Channings. They were published some years later under the name of “Flower Fables.” The children for whom the stories were originally written have grown up and have children of their own. The fairy tales are now republished with some additions for the amusement of those children’s children by their old friend. The volume contains eleven fairy tales, of the kind dear to the fancies of young folks. It is highest praise to say that they are written by Miss Alcott, the famous “Aunt Jo,” dear to the youthful heart, that they are original in conception, pure in treatment and inspired by a true love of nature in its varied forms.
The Literary World 18.24 (26 November 1887): 426.
There is a youth of the imagination, as of the heart, when the freshly waked fancy revels, as it were, in its own suggestions, when the forming style has as yet acquired no mannerisms; and ambition, usage, and the certainty of success do not, as in later life, play their part in the action of a writer’s mind. To this youthful period belong the little tales which, invented originally for the entertainment of certain beloved small neighbors, Miss Alcott now enlarges for a wider circle under the title of Lulu’s Library. They are fairy tales of the fairy order; but they convey the same kindly and helpful lessons with her later books, and as simpler of construction and keeping more faithfully to the true childish standpoint, we prefer them to those. Some of these little stories are as fresh as charming. Nothing, for example, could be prettier in its way than “Little Bud.”
The Hartford Courant 51.281 (28 November 1887): 2:1.
These are mainly her work when about sixteen years old, written for the entertainment of her young sisters. Young children will like them to-day just as much as those of that time did.
The Dial 8.92 (December 1887): 194.
Miss Louisa M. Alcott, whose name is always a good card of introduction to a child’s heart, has provided a treat for the little ones in “Lulu’s Library,” the second volume of which is now published by Roberts Bros. Most of these stories were originally written for her sisters and their friends, the little Channings and Emersons, and were first published as “Flower Fables.” Now, with added stories, they are republished, as she says “for their children’s children.” They are filled with fairy magic about the birds and flowers and frost, and all the out-of-door world. The little girl in the story of “Brownie and the Princess,” who can understand the talk of the birds, will be the envy and admiration of many a child.
“Two New Books by Miss Alcott.” The Literary News n.s. 8.12 (December 1887): 374.
Two little volumes of short stories are among the good things from dear Louisa M. Alcott. “A Garland for Girls” ($1.25) and “Lulu’s Library, ⅴ. 2” ($1), will prove healthy, cheerful reading for young girls. The first is uniform with “Spinning-Wheel Stories” and “Proverb Stories,” the second is a thinner book and for younger children. Bright, interesting tales of natural boys and girls, simply told, all with a good moral undercurrent, may be found in either volume. Miss Jessie McDermott is the illustrator of both.
Zion’s Herald 64.49 (7 December 1887): 386:7.
Here are eleven charming little stories, such as the delightful writer has prepared for her young readers in periodicals. They have interested hundreds when published separately, and will be the comfort of many hundreds more in their present beautiful form.
B., H. B. ([1887?]). Clippings File.
“Most of these stories were written at sixteen,” Miss Alcott tells us, “. . . [remainder of 2 sentences omitted].” There are eleven stories in this volume, and their very titles will make the young eyes sparkle. What child will not want to know all about “The Frost King, and how the Fairies Conquered Him?” about “The Fairy Sleeping Beauty” and the “Water Sprite?” “Eva’s Visit to Fairyland,” “Sunshine and her Brother and Sisters,” “The Brownie and the Princess,[”] and [“]The Mermaids” – all appeal to the keen imagination of juvenile hearers. We have often wondered wherein lies the secret of the fascination which Miss Alcott has exercised upon two generations of children. It grows out of the sympathy which enables her to see with the eyes and think with the minds and feel with the hearts of the young people whom she loves. And even the older people, who have almost forgotten the dreams of their youth, listen to these fanciful tales and are beguiled of their cares and grow cheerful and merry. Miss Alcott is a benefactor to young and old, and her books will long be widely read – a source of enjoyment to thousands.
Checklist of Additional Reviews and Notices
Littell’s Living Age 44.556 (20 January 1855): 192.
HOSPITAL SKETCHES (1863; REPRINTED IN HOSPITAL SKETCHES AND CAMP AND FIRESIDE STORIES, 1869)
The Boston Evening Transcript 35.10,159 (4 June 1863): [2]:3.
The “Hospital Sketches” by Louisa M. Alcott, which have appeared in the Commonwealth, are productions of uncommon merit. They would grace the pages of the Atlantic or any other magazine. Fluent and sparkling in style, with touches of quiet humor and lively wit, relieving what would otherwise be a topic too sombre and sad, they are graphic in description, and exhibit the healthful sentiments and sympathies of the cheerful heroism that should minister to the sick and suffering. The contrast between the comic incidents, and the tragic experience of a single night, given in No. 2 of the series, is portrayed with singular power and effectiveness. “The Death of John” is a noble and touching picture.
The Commonwealth 1.52 (28 August 1863): 2:1–2.
This little book scarcely needs an introduction to our readers, who have already laughed and [wept over those portions?] of it which have been printed in our columns. It now appears in a neat volume, and will find as many readers, we trust, in its new form as in its old. Besides the two additional chapters, we notice that Miss Alcott has added a page here and there, where the fitness of things or the correction of some misunderstanding required it. She dedicates the book to that faithful friend and loyal lady – herself a nurse, Miss Hannah Stevenson of this city.
If this number of our paper had proved to be the last, as we feared, from our Publisher’s account it must be, we were reconciled to the passing away of the Commonwealth, by this among other things, that we have introduced to the great public a book so full of wit, sense and sympathy, as this of Miss Alcott’s.
The Boston Investigator 33.17 (2 September 1863): 134:1.
This little book is well written, and gives the interesting experiences of a New Englandwomanwhowenttothewarinthe honorable capacity of nurse. She relates with much effect the peculiar scenes through which she passed, and as her book is intended to help the children who are made orphans by the war, it is to be hoped that this publication may have a large sale.
Zion’s Herald and Wesleyan Journal 34.35 (2 September 1863): 138:5.
A very entertaining little book. It contains a great deal of pathos, humor and incident.
The Liberator 33.36 (4 September 1863): 142:3.
These Sketches, by Miss Alcott, are deservedly and “respectfully dedicated to her friend, Miss Hannah Stevenson,” of Boston – a noble and good woman. They are overflowing with genius, wit, humor, pathos, and womanly compassion and tenderness. All who read them will greatly relish them.
The Commonwealth. Quoted in advertisement in New-York Tribune 23.6996 (5 September 1863): 6:1.
They are received with universal favor.
The Waterbury American. Quoted in advertisement in New-York Tribune 23.6996 (5 September 1863): 6:1.
Graphically drawn .*.*.* Exceedingly well written – and the graver portions of thrilling interest. There is a quiet vein of humor, too, running all through them, so that the reader is alternately moved to laughter and tears.
The Boston Cultivator 25.63 (5 September 1863): 287:3.
One of the most brilliant and engaging books of the season is this, issued from the press of James Redpath of this city, wherein Mrs. L. M. Alcott has given to the public her experiences and observations connected with hospital and Washington life in this time of rebellion. With all the grace, facility, and directness of woman she writes a quantity of humor and strength of phrasing which delights all readers; and while her enlivening wit sparkles in almost every sentence, there is also a quiet undertone that often touches the finest chords of pathos in our nature, and we feel that the touching scenes of hospital life fell not upon a cold heart in Miss Alcott’s presence. But the heartrending facts, in finding expression through this noble woman, do not hide nor destroy her natural genius for the bright and reënlightening lights of life, and in this little volume again we see how a true heart may ever have room for both pity and a cheerful and cheering hope. None who would know the Hospital of today, no sympathizer with his brothers in the field, and no lover of woman, should delay reading this last exemplification of them all.
National Anti-Slavery Standard 24.17 (5 September 1863): [3]:2.
Most of these Sketches were first printed in the Boston Commonwealth, where they won praise from literary men and women of the first ability. The publisher, having agreed to pay the author the usual copyright and resolved to devote at least five cents for every copy sold to the support of orphans made fatherless or homeless by the war, will not permit any journal to publish any part of the contents. The writer, who is understood to describe scenes of which she was an eye-witness, is the gifted daughter of the Transcendental Philosopher, A. Bronson Alcott.