Cranford
- London: Macmillan and Co, 1935
London: Macmillan and Co, 1935. Later printing. Fine. Bound by Bayntun (Rivière), Bath ca. 1935 in full dark blue crushed levant morocco, covers decoratively bordered in gilt, front cover with a beautiful inlaid design in red, tan, green and brown morocco reproduced from the illustration on page 240, spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt, gilt board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A very fine example.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was an important proto-Feminist writer who often tackled unorthodox subjects in her novels. Cranford, for example, is an episodic book concerning a country village community of lower and middle class unmarried older women and the social changes coming to an industrializing Victorian Britain. "The greatest charm of Cranford, which has kept it unfailingly popular, is its amused but loving portrait of the old-fashioned customs and 'elegant economy' of a delicately observed group of middle-aged figures in a landscape" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). “Elizabeth was an active humanitarian; her novels convey many messages about the need for social reconciliation, for better understanding between employers and workers and between the respectable and the outcasts of society. Her writing was carefully researched, and she took particular care in reproducing northern dialects accurately” (Gaskell Society). Gaskell was part of a wide literary circle: she was friends with Charlottee Bronte and John Ruskin, and clashed with Charles Dickens when he edited Cranford for serialization in the magazine Household Words. Fine.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was an important proto-Feminist writer who often tackled unorthodox subjects in her novels. Cranford, for example, is an episodic book concerning a country village community of lower and middle class unmarried older women and the social changes coming to an industrializing Victorian Britain. "The greatest charm of Cranford, which has kept it unfailingly popular, is its amused but loving portrait of the old-fashioned customs and 'elegant economy' of a delicately observed group of middle-aged figures in a landscape" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). “Elizabeth was an active humanitarian; her novels convey many messages about the need for social reconciliation, for better understanding between employers and workers and between the respectable and the outcasts of society. Her writing was carefully researched, and she took particular care in reproducing northern dialects accurately” (Gaskell Society). Gaskell was part of a wide literary circle: she was friends with Charlottee Bronte and John Ruskin, and clashed with Charles Dickens when he edited Cranford for serialization in the magazine Household Words. Fine.