CRANFORD
GASKELL, ELIZABETH. THOMSON, HUGH, Illustrator
From Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 21 March 2000
From Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 21 March 2000
About this Item
185 x 123 mm. (7 1/4 x 4 3/4"). xxx, 297, [1] pp., [1] leaf (ads). Pleasing contemporary Jansenist dark blue crushed morocco by Riviere & Son (stamp-signed on front turn-in), raised bands, gilt lettering to two panels, richly gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edge gilt. Original green cloth covers and spine bound in. With 111 illustrations in the text by Hugh Thomson. ā Just a hint of wear to corners and top of front joint, intermittent mild foxing, but an excellent copy, clean and fresh internally, in a lustrous, attractive binding. This is an appealingly illustrated edition of the author's best-known work, in a fine binding from a leading British workshop. First published in serial form in Dickens' "Household Words," the delightful "Cranford"--a town not unlike Knutsford in Cheshire, where the author grew up--focuses on a circle of lovable spinsters and their joys and sorrows. The present edition features charming illustrations by Hugh Thomson (1860-1920), who would go on to illustrate seven books from the "Cranford" series for Macmillan. DNB provides an explanation of the popularity of the illustrator's work: "Reflecting successfully the nostalgia of the time," Thomson's "fine line drawing of rural characters and gentle countrified society appealed to the imagination of the public." The wife of a Unitarian minister, author Elizabeth Stevenson Gaskell (1810-65) numbered among her friends Dickens and Charlotte Brontė, of whom she wrote an important biography. In addition to the lighthearted "Cranford," Gaskell penned serious novels probing Victorian marriage and the plight of the factory worker. Riviere is one of the foremost names in English binding, partly because the firm did consistently fine work and partly because it was so long in business. Robert Riviere began as a bookseller and binder in Bath in 1829, then set up shop as a binder in London in 1840; in 1881, he took his grandson Percival Calkin into partnership, at which time the firm became known as Riviere & Son, and the bindery continued to do business until 1939. The present binding is nothing like their often highly decorative work, but it is still elegantly done, executed with foremost skill, and put together with top quality materials. Seller Inventory # ST19567-135
Bibliographic Details
Title: CRANFORD
Publisher: Macmillan and Co, London and New York
Publication Date: 1891
Edition: First Edition thus.
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