Alcott, William A. The Young Woman's Guide. Boston: Strong & Brodhead, 1849. Thirteenth Edition. [12466]
Faded cloth, boards decorated in blind, spine in gilt, dribbled narrow ink stain on back board, some light edge-wear but no damage, just loss of color, 6 1/4 x 4 inches. Small yellow contemporary bookseller's ticked on front paste-down, a grandmother's gift inscription to her granddaughter on the ffep. Steel-engraved scene of two young women standing, a young man seated at a desk in front of a window, all looking at an open book; this by O. Pelton. Extra engraved title page by the same engraver. 356 clean pp. Good. Hardcover.
Thirty-two chapters of advice, written from a Christian viewpoint.
Chapters include Female Responsibilities; Self-Education; Self-Government; Self-Command; Decision of Character; Detraction and Scandal; The Right Use of Time; Love of Domestic Concerns; Frugality and Economy; Exercise; Rest and Sleep; Visiting; Manners; Health and Beauty; Dress and Ornament; Dosing and Drugging; Intellectual Improvement; Social Improvement; Moral Progress; &c.
William Andrus Alcott (1798-1859), b. Wolcott, Connecticut; d. Auburndale, Massachusetts. A doctor, teacher, and author, Alcott graduated from the Yale Medical School in 1826. In addition to his teaching in his own school in Wolcott, he edited the Juvenile Rambler and Parley's Magazine. He wrote many articles and books on health, morality, and biographies of Bible characters. As a doctor he was the author of The Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages; he co-founded the American Physiological Society in 1837, with Sylvester Graham; and he was the first President of the American Vegetarian Society, 1850.
