[8] Originally released in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, a single-volume revised edition was published in 1880 to capitalize on the book's popularity and to deter copyright violators.

Shortly after Little Women was published, Merrill was asked to supply illustrations for the first edition of The Prince and the Pauper (1881) by Mark Twain.

They are as dainty and rich as etching.Over the course of his career, Merrill created thousands of illustrations for a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults.

"The Bromley Arms" is very delicate in handling, and the color is quiet and cool; the grays are soft but rather ordinary; there is a lack of fine feeling for minute gradation.

The perspective is more than good; the tottering stone wall in the left foreground is particularly well managed; the geese are cleverly drawn and with considerable character.Another newspaper review of a 1905 exhibition at Walter Rowland's galleries was also complimentary.

Not less so are the drawings made to illustrate Dumas's romances.In 1914, Merrill appeared as a witness in a case of "larceny and conspiracy" regarding the sale of a collection of books.

Merrill also stated that he was paid "a little in excess of $1,900" for illustrations made for editions of the collected works of Keats and Shelley, which were among the books involved in the lawsuit.

He added that he was paid $60 for each of four drawings for books by Mark Twain, probably referring to a commission for four full-page illustrations for a new edition of The Prince and the Pauper which was published in 1899.

[22] Merrill married Jessie S. Aldrich (1858–1936) of Boston on December 14, 1881, at the Walnut Avenue (now Eliot) Congregational Church in Roxbury.

[23] The couple lived in Roxbury until 1886 when they moved to a newly built house and studio on Tremlett St. in the Codman Square neighborhood of Dorchester.

He gave talks to local groups on illustration and historic costuming, drawing on his experience collecting and restoring American antiques.