All Alone in the World: The Story of Rico & Wiseli's Way [FIRST EDITION]

Spyri, Johanna

Published by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London, England, 1958

About this Item

Fine condition blue cloth boards with bright gold spine lettering contained in a near fine condition price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. The lower front jacket spine edge has a 1/8th inch closed tear (see photographs). All pages are in fine unmarked condition and the spine is exceedingly tight and square. Includes List of Illustrations. Translated by M.E. Calthrop. "Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi, is here represented with two stories that capture the quiet, fresh charm for which she is deservedly loved and known. The first concerns the fortunes of Rico, the motherless son of an Italian road-worker from Lake Garda who, after the death of his young Swiss wife, returns to the mountain countryside from which he took her. Rico's father, a silent man who nevertheless inspires in little Rico his own delight in music, is killed in an accident and Rico is left alone in the world but for the care of an ill-tempered old cousin. He is a rather sad, dreamy boy who finds comfort, friendship, and a playmate in the lively little Stineli, a neighbour's daughter. Rico at last acquires a violin on which he has long set his heart, and Stineli encourages him to seek his fortune in the southern land for which he longs, earning money by singing and playing on the way there. How Rico meets kind people in Italy, returns to Switzerland after a few years, grown into a man the staunch Stineli can be proud of, and marries her, is the subject of this charming Spyri 'long-short' story. The second story is "Wiseli's Way'. Wiseli, a frail little girl, is left alone in the world by the early death of her father in an accident and then by the illness and death of her much-loved mother. She has to live with unkind relations, but is befriended by kind neighbours and especially by a schoolfellow, the son of a well-to-do neighbour, and his little sister. She eventually finds happiness in a totally unforseen way in helping to take care of a neighbour - the rejected but ever faithful suitor of her dead mother - who has met with an accident. Through the influence of her benevolent friends it is made possible for this good man to adopt Wiseli, so that she is rescued from her harsh guardians and becomes a daughter to him." - from the inner front jacket flap. Seller Inventory # 003791

Bibliographic Details

Title: All Alone in the World: The Story of Rico & ...

Publisher: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London, England

Publication Date: 1958

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Ross, Michael

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Edition: 1st Edition