"Dotty Dimple Out West" by Sophie May, illustrated with woodcut plates; published by Lee & Shepard, 10 Milk Street, Boston, undated (1880s), copyright 1869 by the publisher.

Frontispiece and one plate are signed in plate by John Andrew; the additional illustrated title page by Samuel Smith Kilburn, engraved by Reimunt Sayer (signed in plate); 3 plates are by Thomas Nast, and one by M.C. Callan.

Hard boards, original green-bluish cloth with embossed black decorations on front board and spine; gold Dotty on front board; gold & black decorated spine [some cloth wear]; 4.1/2" x 6.1/4"; "Syd??? [Sydney--?] Bickford. Xmas" is ink written on the front endpaper, blank + 1 page publisher's ad + woodcut frontispiece and add. title page with tissue guard + 171 pages + 5 woodcut plates + 17 pages of publisher's ads + one blank; heavy paper, plates on glossy paper, some soiling, very good condition.

"I read these books when I was a child and enjoyed them. But rereading them now was a very interesting and enlightening experience. These books reveal what girls were like more than a century ago better than almost any other method." [a private review]

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), an American children's author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote forty-five books under the pseudonym Sophie May; chief among them were her immensely popular Little Prudy and Dotty Dimple series. Clarke lived most of her life in her hometown of Norridgewock, Maine, save for ten years spent as a teacher in Evansville, Indiana. After suffering a severe hearing loss in 1861, she went to live with her sister, Sarah Jones Clarke, another children's author, who published under the name Penn Shirley.

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