Live Alone and Like It: A Guide for the Extra Woman

Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dj. (c.1936). Later Printing (see description). Hardcover. [a sharp-looking copy, lower right corner of front cover bumped, no other significant wear; the jacket is bright and attractive with some light soiling, a bit of wear to the edges and extremeties, and a short closed tear at the top front foldover]. (pen and ink drawings) "In this gay and wise little book," the author, then an assistant editor at Vogue, assures her intended readership -- women living "a solitary existence--whether you like it or not" -- that this experience "can be dull or fun, doom or adventure," depending entirely on your attitude and approach: "Above all, it needn't be lonely, as so many women let it be." She advises viewing it as "the chance of a lifetime to do as you please [and to] have a thoroughly good time, being as comfortable and gay as possible" -- notions that in the 1930s no doubt struck many women as truly revolutionary. As Joanna Scutts described it in her 2018 book "The Extra Woman": "Her book celebrated guts, indulgence, and above all, independence; it was funny, brisk, and endlessly quotable." The book was one of the best-selling nonfiction books of 1936, and its follow-up, "Orchids on Your Budget," enjoyed similar success the following year. (NOTE that there is no edition or printing statement in the book itself, but the front panel of the dust jacket declares this copy to be part of the "90th to 100th Thousand" printing.) An exceptionally nice-looking copy, uncommon in this condition. .