Gift Book For Young Men; or Familiar Letters on Self-Knowledge, Self-Education, Female Society, Marriage &c.

Auburn: Derby & Miller; Buffalo: Derby, Orton & Mulligan. 1853. Seventh thousand, first edition printed in 1852. Cloth 12mo, 312pp. Frontis engraving of George Washington. Blind embossed boards with gilt stamped spine, about Vet Good with bumping, fraying to spine ends, intermittent foxing, stain to rear board.

Alcott uses vague language to keep within the confines of modesty, but warns boys against the generations of misfortune that will result from "impurity" ("The sins of parents, at least in their consequences, are visited upon children unto the third and fourth generation—probably to the twentieth"). He especially cautions against self-indulgence, as described via volcano metaphor, before the age of 25, and advises against over-heating: "In general, let your motto be, Keep cool, keep cool" (175-178).