"Bessie And Her Friends" by Joanna H. Mathews, published by Robert Carter, New York, 1874, copyright 1868 by the publisher. Later printing of the first edition.

Hard boards, original blind decorated cloth; gold decorated spine [spine ends and cloth wear]; 4.1/2" x 7"; dark brown endpapers, child's pencil drawing on the verso of the front endpaper is partially cut (see photo); child's drawing and "Agnes O'Brien, San Francisco 1875" on the first blank page, a pencil drawing on the verso of the frontispiece; frontispiece without tissue guard; 366 pages + 3 plates + two page publisher's ad, some soiling, a few page corner folds, pencil drawings on the verso of each plate, creased advertising page and back endpaper, the blank vertical margin of a couple of pages is wrinkled, good condition. See photos.

"A quick read and nice, clean, moral story... Also, there are some simplistic plot devices used that might disappoint today's readers; but the children were so real that I felt like I knew them right away." [private review]

Joanna Hooe/ Hone Mathews (1849-1901) was born in New York where she attended and graduated from Madame Reichard's School. She and her sister Julia Mathews aka Alice Gray wrote children's books. Her first book, Guy Hamilton: A Story of Our Civil War, was published in 1866. Her best-known writings were the Bessie Books.

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