Approximately 4 1/2” wide x 6 1/2” tall by Warren, 289 Washington Street, Boston; no date but probably early 1870s. Some foxing and spotting as well as a crack across the center. On the verso is a pencil ms. sonnet in Alcott’s hand describing her image, signed “L.M.A.” In this poem, almost certainly unpublished, and probably unknown to scholars, Alcott describes herself, “...There’s a glare on her nose,/ Deep gloom in her eye./ She looks half asleep/ Or just about to die./ A mourner she seems/ Though she tried to be gay,/ But in spite of all/ This is L.M.A.” By descent from a member of the Sewall family, neighbors of the Alcotts and Thoreaus in Concord. Both Henry David Thoreau and his brother were rejected suitors of Ellen Sewall. According to this heir, the crack across the photo was the result of a previous generation folding it and placing it in a book.

[Book #23536P]