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Alcott, Louisa May : Transcendental Wild Oats

Thoreau Lyceum, Concord, MA

Original publisher's light beige paper wrappers with staple binding. Black lettering and black-and-white illustration of a scythe, wooden posts, and oats printed on front cover. No date, circa 1974. 5 1/2" x 8 1/4." Unpaginated, c. twenty-eight pages, complete. Pages are pristine and intact except for light age toning. Covers are clean and intact except for light age toning, a few small spots and stains along spine, and minuscule wear to corners and edges. Binding is tight. A Very Good copy. A c. 1974 reprint of Louisa May Alcott's famous satire about the time she and her family lived at Fruitlands, a Transcendentalist utopian commune in Harvard, Massachusetts. Printed on front copyright page: "It was printed in its current form by the Thoreau Lyceum, Concord, Massachusetts in December, 1970, and again in 1974." Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American author, abolitionist, and feminist. She is perhaps best-known for writing Little Women (1868) and its companion books about the semi-fictional March family. Alcott also wrote poetry, short stories, and children's literature. Transcendental Wild Oats is a thinly veiled semi-autobiographical account of her experience at Fruitlands in the early 1840s. Fruitlands was a short-lived utopian agrarian commune founded by Louisa's father, Amos Bronson Alcott, and another Transcendentalist, Charles Lane. Fruitlands residents adhered to rules such as having a vegan diet, drinking only water, bathing in cold water, prohibiting use of artificial lighting, and not using animal labor. Fruitlands failed after seven months due to the lack of arable land, the prohibition of animal labor, and the overall management of the commune. The characters in this book were based on real people at the commune. For example, "Abel Lamb" is Amos, "Timon Lion" is Lane, and "Sister Hope" is Louisa's mother, Abigail "Abby" May. Despite it being a satire, Ednah D. Cheney, Louisa's biographer, was quoted as saying, "[Transcendental Wild Oats is] very close to the facts." Transcendental Wild Oats ultimately pokes fun at Fruitlands and addresses social issues such as patriarchal dominance and women's rights.. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Soft cover