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A clean, edited reading copy of George P. Putnam's first edition of The Wide, Wide World.

These black and white illustrations, appearing as the frontispiece and title page vignette to volume 2 of the 1853 James Nisbet "Author's Edition" reprint, depicts the ox cart and a ship at sea. The frontispiece depicts depicts Ellen riding in the ox cart as Mr. Van Brunt walks alongside the oxen. Mr. Van Brunt holds up a whip as Ellen sits in a chair in the ox cart looking around her. The landscape surrounding the ox cart is bleak as bare trees hang over the path, and the dark sky contrasts the white ground, suggesting cold weather. The bleak landscape seems to suggest Ellen's apprehension upon leaving Thirlwall in the ox cart as Mr. Van Brunt guides her to her Aunt Fortune's house. The title page vignette depicts a large ship on a dark, rough sea. The ship is heading towards the horizon as the sun rises. The pairing of these illustrations compares two modes of travel that appear in the novel, both suggesting a journey to an unfamiliar location.

This is the recto of the first back flyleaf of Volume 1 of the 1851 George P. Putnam First Edition, Version 3.

This is the verso of the first back flyleaf from volume 1 of the 1851 George P. Putnam First Edition, Version 3.

This is the back-right flyleaf of volume 1 of the 1851 George P. Putnam First Edition, Version 3.

This is the verso of the second back flyleaf of 1851 George P. Putnam First Edition, Version 3.

This is the back pastedown of volume 1 of the 1851 George P. Putnam 1st Edition, Version 3.

This is the first page of text in volume 1 of the 1851 George P. Putnam First Edition, Version 3. It features an epigraph taken from Longfellow's "It Is Not Always May." The Wide, Wide World is at the top of the page in all capitals, with a decorative rule under it.  Chapter 1 follows the decorative rule, with the epigraph and text under it.