A Lovely Gift

Little Women is the first book I remember being completely obsessed with. I first read it at about age 6 or 7 and then read it over and over and over for years. I still reread it regularly. It is one of my books that is guaranteed to improve a bad day. Last year, I was very excited to find out that a copy of Pride and Prejudice that had facsimiles of all the letters in the novel was being published. My husband bought it for me as an anniversary gift. This year, we found out that there is a similar copy of Little Women. My husband, continuing his streak of being the best husband in the world, also bought this for me. Isn’t it beautiful?

I never thought about just how many letters there are in the novel. Plus, there is even a copy of The Pickwick Portfolio which is the newsletter the girls write. Great care is given to make each letter look authentic and individual with different handwriting and paper used for each writer. I get a thrill out of pulling each letter out at the appropriate point in the book. It certainly helps the story to come alive.

My only complaint is that I wish the cover of the book was different. I think it would have been nice if they had done a very old-fashioned cover that possibly looked like one of the early editions of the novel. I especially don’t like the description under the title. However, that is a relatively minor quibble in regard to an edition that absolutely thrills me.

I wonder if another book will be given the same treatment next fall. It is very handy for them to come out right around our anniversary. One of these years, we will be able to go somewhere fun and exciting for our anniversary again. In the meantime, books always make me happy.