THE BOOK

Included within this book is a title page, publishing information, the table of contents, a preface, and 334 pages of story text divided into 23 chapters. There is an illustration present opposite the title page, as well as three other illustrations within the book. At the closing of the book there are 18 pages of randomly numbered advertisements by the book’s publisher. There is minimal decoration on the book. The cover is simple, stating the title Little Women by L.M. Alcott in gold lettering that is surrounded by a gold frame. The binding has similar decoration, stating the title of the book and the author again, and enclosing the text in a gold frame.

The title page of this book is very minimalistic. There are no borders or decoration present. It simply states the title of the book, the author, and the illustration. It is interesting to note that on the cover the title simply reads Little Women. However, within the book the title page shows the title to be Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. The second part of the title is seen in a smaller type. Below the title you see the author’s name, Louisa M. Alcott, and below that in an even smaller font, the illustrators name, May Alcott. All the text on this page is done in capitals. The publishing information is stated on the back of the title page, in a very small font. The information includes the publisher, and the companies that did the presswork and the stereotyping. The table of contents is also a very plain in terms of decoration. It simply states “CONTENTS” at the top of the page. From there it goes on to list the chapters, stating the title, the chapter number in Roman numerals, and the page that the chapter begins on.

The chapters are each indicated by the word chapter typed in all capitals followed by the Roman numeral for the number chapter it is indicating. Each chapter of the book was given a title. These titles are seen below the chapter number in a smaller font. Each chapter begins with a larger capital for the first word, which is also written in all capitals.


As for page layout, this book is written in a single column of, of 34 lines on average. This number occasionally varies from page to page. The margins for the writing stop about a ¾ inch from the edge of the page. In the heading of verso side of the leaf, the page number is seen in the top left corner, and centered in the middle of the page in italics is the title of the book. On the recto side of the leaf, the page number is seen in the right corner, and centered in the middle of the page is the title of the chapter.