Suite of (4) Manuscript Letters from Abigail May Alcott to Alice L. Putnam, First Cousin of Frederick Ward Putnam. Very Fine. These are personal letters between seemingly new friends, with mostly mundane content, though there are some interesting entries as noted below. All are with their original covers, though the corners which would have had applied postage stamps have been torn off. Included are: <strong>Deficient Hotel, Syracuse, New York, July 19, 1861.</strong> References the War "However to change the subject dont you want to go to the war dreadfully? For I am wild to explore Fort Monroe and Richmond and have begun my warlike education by learning to handle a pistol and fired three balls through a window this morning hitting a target…" She also references having completed her teaching at Syracuse, so there can be no question that this is in the hand of Abigail May Alcott, one of two younger sisters of Louisa May Alcott, and the inspiration for the character "Amy" in Louisa Mays novel, <em>Little Women</em>. May, as she preferred to be called, was an accomplished artist herself, studying drawing and painting. She illustrated the first edition of <em>Little Women</em>; <strong>"<em>Apple Slump</em>" Concord, Massachusetts, August 18, 1861.</strong> This letter references her sister, Louisa, having just returned from Gorham, N.H. where she had been spending a month…climbing Mt. Washington, "riding down the terrific slopes and rocky passes, in such an exciting manner, leaping brooks and playing with bears…" in contrast with her own less exciting time at home; <strong>Concord, Massachusetts, September 8, 1861.</strong> This letter includes an invitation to Miss Putnam to visit Alcott at her studio in Liberty Tree Block (Boston). It again references her elder sister, "Louisa pops her head out of her sink-stand[?] to send her compliments and say how sorry she is, not to see Miss Putnam in Concord";<strong> Concord, Massachusetts, October 20, 1861.</strong> This letter presents another great literary connection, opening with: "Having just returned from a long walk with Una and Julien[sic] Hawthorne..." Una and Julian were two of the three children of American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, most famous for his works, <em>The Scarlet Letter</em> and <em>The House of the Seven Gables</em>. The letter also includes the interesting insight to Civil War era life far from the battlefield, "We are on the rampage now with socks for soldiers and its nothing but knit, knit" with fingers weary and sore." It also makes another reference to Louisa and provides another insight into the Alcott family home life, "While Lu reads aloud the <em>Improvisatore</em> which is so full of beautiful descriptions and pictures and picturesque places that it fills my soul with delight, and with a greater longing than ever to go abroad..." <em>Improvisatore</em> is an 1835 work by Hans Christian Andersen. She also references her own artistic endeavors, commenting that her painting of a leaf was such a success as to fool someone into trying to pick it up. (Total: 4 letters)
