Order of Louisa May Alcott Books
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American author of children’s fiction, young adult fiction, thrillers and poetry. Her writing career took off while she was working as a nurse during the Civil War and writing about her experiences (for what became Hospital Sketches). Alcott is best known for her children’s novel Little Women – a Civil War-era coming of age story that spawned multiple sequels. The novel Little Women gave her the financial independence she desired and the ability to continue writing until her death.
Louisa May Alcott’s first book was the short story collection Flower Fables. Her work has been published as recently as 1997. Below is a list of Louisa May Alcott’s books in order of when they were first published:
Publication Order of Little Women Books
(with Porter Grand)
Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy | (1868) | |
Good Wives | (1869) | |
Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys | (1871) | |
Jo’s Boys and How They Turned Out | (1886) | |
Little Women and Werewolves | (2010) |
Publication Order of Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag Books
Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag | (1872) | |
Shawl-Straps | (1872) | |
Cupid and Chow Chow | (1873) | |
My Girls | (1877) | |
Jimmy’s Cruise in the Pinafore Etc. | (1879) | |
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving | (1882) |
Publication Order of Eight Cousins Books
Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill | (1875) | |
Rose in Bloom | (1876) |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
The Inheritance | (1849) | |
Moods | (1864) | |
An Old-Fashioned Girl | (1869) | |
Work | (1873) | |
A Modern Mephistopheles | (1877) | |
Under the Lilacs | (1878) | |
Jack & Jill | (1880) | |
Proverb Stories | (1882) | |
Lulu’s Library | (1886) | |
A Long Fatal Love Chase | (1995) |
Publication Order of Collections
Flower Fables | (1854) | |
A Modern Cinderella | (1860) | |
On Picket Duty, and Other Tales | (1864) | |
A Marble Woman | (1865) | |
Behind a Mask | (1867) | |
Kitty’s Class Day and Other Stories | (1882) | |
Spinning-Wheel Stories | (1884) | |
A Garland for Girls | (1887) | |
A Whisper in the Dark | (1889) | |
The Louisa Alcott Reader | (1908) | |
Glimpses of Louisa | (1968) | |
Short Stories | (1968) | |
Plots and Counterplots | (1976) | |
An Intimate Anthology | (1980) | |
Selected Fiction | (1980) | |
Hidden Louisa May Alcott | (1984) | |
Works of Louisa May Alcott | (1986) | |
A Double Life | (1988) | |
Freaks of Genius: Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott | (1991) | |
Louisa May Alcott’s Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories | (1992) | |
The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott | (1993) | |
Louisa May Alcott Unmasked | (1995) | |
Modern Magic | (1995) | |
The Quiet Little Woman | (1999) | |
The Poems of Louisa May Alcott | (2000) | |
The Early Stories of Louisa May Alcott, 1852-1860 | (2000) | |
Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury | (2002) | |
The Brownie and the PrincessOther Stories | (2004) | |
Doctor Dorn’s Revenge and A Strange Island | (2007) | |
The Candy Country and How They Ran Away | (2008) | |
Morning-Glories | (2009) | |
The Poetry of Louisa May Alcott | (2012) | |
Sisters | (2017) | |
A Vintage Christmas | (2018) | |
May Flowers | (2019) | |
A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories | (2019) |
Publication Order of Chapbooks
Transcendental Wild Oats | (1873) | |
Marjorie’s Three Gifts | (1899) | |
Diana & Persis | (1978) | |
Kate’s Choice | (2001) | |
Debby’s Debut | (2010) | |
Love and Self Love | (2010) |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Pauline’s Passion and Punishment | (1862) | |
The Abbot’s Ghost, Or Maurice Treheme’s Temptation | (1867) | |
Perilous Play, And, Lost in a Pyramid or the Mummy’s Curse | (1869) | |
Poppies and Wheat | (1900) | |
Trudel’s Siege | (1976) | |
Scarlet Stockings | (2004) | |
The Baron’s Gloves | (2005) | |
Silver Pitchers and Independence | (2007) | |
Little Button Rose | (2008) | |
The Mysterious Key and What It Opened | (2010) | |
The King of Clubs and the Queen of Hearts | (2013) | |
The Death of John | (2013) | |
The Cross on the Old Church Tower | (2013) | |
On Picket Duty | (2014) | |
Doctor Dorn’s Revenge | (2015) | |
Effie’s Christmas Dream | (2015) | |
The Dolls’ Journey | (2015) | |
The Blind Lark | (2016) | |
Comic Tragedies | (2016) | |
How They Ran Away | (2016) | |
Sophie’s Secret | (2016) | |
Lilybell and Thistledown | (2016) | |
The Brownie and the Princess | (2017) | |
Kitty’s Class Day | (2018) | |
Pansies and Water-Lilies | (2018) | |
The Mysterious Key | (2019) | |
Lost in a Pyramid | (2019) |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Civil War Hospital Sketches | (1863) | |
Hospital Sketches | (1863) | |
Behind a Mask, or a Woman’s Power | (1866) | |
Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals | (1889) | |
The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott | (1987) | |
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott | (1989) | |
The Girlhood Diary of Louisa May Alcott, 1843-1846 | (1993) | |
Louisa May Alcott On Race, Sex, And Slavery | (1997) | |
The Sketches of Louisa May Alcott | (2001) | |
Louisa May Alcott’s Civil War | (2006) | |
Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters’ Letters from Europe, 1870-1871 | (2008) |
Publication Order of Anthologies
A St. Nicholas Anthology | (1969) | |
The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 2 | (2016) | |
Women Who Wrote | (2020) | |
The Dover Anthology of Classic Christmas Stories | (2023) |
Notes: Good Wives was also published as Part Second of Little Women. The Inheritance was finished in 1849, but not published until 1997. A Long Fatal Love Chase was completed in 1866, but went unpublished until 1995. A Long Fatal Love Chase, The Abbot’s Ghost and Behind a Mask were written as A.M. Barnard. A Modern Mephistopheles was published anonymously.