Obituaries - Madeleine Stern, 95; dealer in rare books, writer and Alcott scholar
Madeleine Stern, a rare-book dealer, writer and scholar who uncovered a trove of Gothic thrillers by Louisa May Alcott, the author best known for her wholesome domestic saga, "Little Women," has died. She was 95.
Stern, who with her partner Leona Rostenberg owned Rostenberg & Stern Rare Books, died Aug. 18 at her home in New York City after a brief illness, according to a statement by Eric Holzenberg, director of the Grolier Club for graphic arts in New York City.
She got started in the business in the mid-1940s after helping launch Rostenberg's career in rare books. Stern gave up a teaching job and formed a partnership with Rostenberg in 1945. Four years later she became a founding member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Assn. of America.
"Madeleine did more to further the association and establish its prestige than anyone I can think of," said Bernard M. Rosenthal, a rare-book dealer in Berkeley and a longtime colleague of Stern. "She was very dynamic; she got things done."
She also helped to establish the inaugural antiquarian book fair in New York City in 1960, Rosenthal said.
With her serious manner, bubbling curiosity and deep knowledge of books, Stern was a powerful presence despite her 5-foot-3-inch stature.
"Madeleine was the doyenne of antiquarian booksellers," said Judy Cohen, a rare-book dealer in New Paltz, N.Y. "I once was invited for tea. I was so intimidated I just listened."
Stern lived and worked in an apartment lined with dark wooden bookcases filled with leather-bound antique books. Throughout her years in the business, she kept up a writing career as well.
Stern was doing research on Alcott for a biography she planned to write when she discovered hints that the author of wholesome fiction also wrote stories of "blood and thunder," as Alcott referred to them. She filled them with "pirates, wolves, bears and distressed damsels" and gave them titles like "The Maniac Bride," Alcott confided in a letter of 1862.
Patient research by Stern and Rostenberg led them to a letter that Boston publisher James R. Elliott wrote to Alcott in the mid-1860s. It stated, "We would like more stories from you . . . and if you prefer you may use the pseudonym of A.M. Barnard or any other man's name if you will."
Stern's critically acclaimed biography, "Louisa May Alcott" was published in 1950. She went on to edit or co-edit a number of books on her subject, including "Louisa May Alcott Unmasked: Collected Thrillers," and "The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott" both published in 1995.
