Browse Items (63 total)

This black and white Frontispiece from the [1912] Nelson & Sons Reprint. It depicts Alice comforting a sad Ellen, over the loss of her letter. Alice is dressed dark colors, sitting on a chair, so that she may be at eye level of Ellen, who is dressed in light colors. Alice is holding Ellen's face closer to hers.

This is the full cover of the [1853] Clarke, Beeton, & Co. reprint, version 1. The cover is faded and some of the title is illegible. At the top of the cover reads the price of the book while below the title is given amidst a framework of greenery which houses an illustration of Ellen, Ellen's Mother, and Ellen's father. Beneath the illustration is the publication city and publisher. The back cover is no longer attached to the book.

This illustration, appearing on page 436a of the [1899] George Routledge and Sons edition, depicts Alice and Ellen holding hands as Alice tells Ellen that she is terminally ill. Alice sits with one arm wrapped around Ellen as Ellen stands next to her looking down sadly. A large cabinet stands behind the two . A caption below the illustration quotes a sentence from page 436 of the text and reads, "Alice held her and looked sadly for a minute into the woebegone little face, then clasped her close and kissed her again and again."

This illustration, appearing on page 272b of the [1899] George Routledge and Sons Edition, depicts Alice introducing Ellen to her brother John for the first time. A painting hangs behind the trio and Captain Perry, Alice's cat, wraps himself around John's leg as John leans over Ellen to shake her hand. A caption below the illustration quotes a sentence from page 273 of the text. Alice and Ellen, dressed in brightly colored dresses, provide a contrast to John, who is dressed in all black. John's posture as he leans down to kiss Ellen, gives him a position of dominance as Ellen looks up at him and allows him to take her hand. Alice, positioned demurely behind Ellen, looks down at Ellen, so that both Alice and John, who have recently immigrated from England to America, look down on her. The positions of the trio suggest a superiority of the English and an inferiority of Ellen, who represents American nationality. At the same time, the intimate act that is about to take place in this scene, seems to suggest an important intimacy between America and its colonizer.

This illustration, appearing on page 212a of the [1899] George Routledge and Sons edition, depicts a pale Ellen, sick in bed, as she kisses Mr. Van Brunt's hand. Mr. Van Brunt, dressed in a long green coat and pants with a buttoned orange shirt, stands next to Ellen's bed holding a hymn book in one hand as Ellen kisses the other. A caption below the illustration quotes a short passage from page 212. The illustration embodies the ideas of sentimentalism, which utilizes emotion to affect ideas of morality. Ellen, who has just expressed her desire for Mr. Van Brunt to become one of the "fold of Christ's people," appeals to Mr. Van Brunt (and the viewer of the illustration) through a display of emotional affection. The presence of the hymn book foreshadows Mr. Van Brunt's eventual devotion to Christianity.