Original Victorian-era illustrated hardcover edition of Hatty and Marcus or First Steps in the Better Path, published in New York by William Wood and Company at 61 Walker Street.

The story is a nineteenth-century work of Christian juvenile fiction centered on siblings Hatty and Marcus and the moral lessons they learn about kindness, patience, family, faith and personal conduct. The work is attributed to American children’s author Sarah Schoonmaker Baker, who also published under the name Aunt Friendly.

The title page lists “Wm. Wood & Co., 61 Walker Street, New York” but does not provide a publication date. William Wood and Company operated from that address from approximately 1867 through 1872, establishing a likely publication period of circa 1867–1872.

Features a black-and-white engraved frontispiece depicting Victorian children with two adults on a street. The original brown cloth hardcover has blind-stamped decorative