BERTHA'S CHRISTMAS VISION: AN AUTUMN SHEAF by Alger, Horatio, Jr - 1856

Boston: Brown, 1856. pp. [i-v] vi [vii] viii [1] 2-248, flyleaves at front and rear, inserted frontispiece and engraved title, original decorated cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. Alger's first book, a collection of sentimental stories and poems, most-- perhaps all -- "probably contributed pseudonymously to the Boston TRANSCRIPT. Alger was an obscure young schoolteacher in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It took another eight years before he found his métier. In 115 books he implanted in a generation of boys the American dream of rags to riches. His enormous royalties were mostly spent in helping needy boys, and he died poor." - Seven Gables Bookshop, More First Books by American Authors 6. Wright (II) 53. Gardner, p. 53. Spine ends and corner tips worn with shallow loss, spine panel darkened, some soiling to cloth, front free endpaper missing, some foxing to frontispiece and engraved title, several small stains to first few leaves of text, a good copy. (#164924)