Two Bites at a Cherry, with Other Tales was published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. in 1894. The collection represents Aldrich’s mature short fiction — stories written after his resignation from the editorship of the Atlantic Monthly in 1890, when he returned to creative work full-time.
The stories demonstrate the qualities that had made Aldrich’s reputation: verbal precision, structural elegance, social observation, and a wit that could shade into melancholy. The title story deals with second chances in love — the “two bites at a cherry” being two opportunities to pursue a relationship initially missed. Other stories in the collection explore the complications of social life among the cultivated classes: misunderstandings, romantic triangles, the gaps between what people say and what they mean.
Aldrich’s narrative technique is notable for its economy. He was a ruthless reviser who eliminated everything unnecessary, and his stories move with a briskness that conceals their careful construction. Dialogue is sharp and naturalistic; description is precise but never excessive; plot mechanics are handled with invisible skill.
The collection appeared at the end of the era in which Aldrich’s kind of fiction — polished, civilized, concerned with manners and morals among the educated — dominated American literature. Within a decade, the naturalists (Dreiser, Norris, Crane) would shift American fiction toward rawer subjects and rougher methods, making Aldrich’s elegance seem like an affectation rather than an achievement.
Collecting Two Bites at a Cherry
First edition (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1894): Cloth binding.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $20–$50
- Very good: $8–$20