Gaskell

04214 — London: Macmillan and Co. 1895. In a Fine 1897 'Exhibition' Binding by Zaehnsdorf<br/><br/>ZAEHNSDORF binders. THOMSON Hugh illustrator. GASKELL Mrs. Elizabeth. Cranford. With a preface by Anne Thackeray Ritchie and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co. 1895. <br/><br/>Early reprint of the 1891 first Thomson illustrated edition. <br/><br/>Octavo 7 1/2 x 5 inches; 191 x 127 mm. Frontispiece xxx 297 1 pp. With 110 black and white illustrations in the text. Occasional foxing or staining especially on pp. 16/17; 104/105; 144/145 and 270/271. <br/><br/>A fine 'Exhibition' binding by Zaehnsdorf executed in 1897 stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in. Full crimson crushed levant morocco covers bordered in gilt and decoratively tooled in gilt and pointille in an elaborate floral design front cover lettered in gilt. Spine with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments gilt ruled board edgeswide and elaborate gilt decorated turn-ins ochre silk liners and end-leaves top edge gilt others uncut. The rear liner has the Zaehnsdorf 'Exhibition' stamp in gilt. Joints expertly and almost invisibly repaired one corner a little bumped still a very early and fine example of a Zaehnsdorf 'Exhibition' binding housed in a red morocco edged felt-lined red cloth slipcase.<br/><br/>Cranford which originally appeared as a serial in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words 1851-53 and saw its first publication in book form in 1853 is "a series of linked sketches of life among the ladies of a quiet country village in the 1830s.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. <br/><br/>Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell 1810-1865 a "strong and independent-minded woman" The Feminist Companion to Literature was an important proto-Feminist writer who often tackled unorthodox subjects in her novels. Cranford for example concerns a community of spinsters who glory in their freedom from male interference. Mrs. Gaskell was "'the most popular with small question the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists'" Enclyclopedia of British Women Writers p. 264 citing Mrs. Gaskell's obituary in The Athenaeum.<br/><br/>"Critical awareness of Gaskell as a social historian is now more balanced by awareness of her innovativeness and artistic development as a novelist. While scholars continue to debate the precise nature of her talent they also reaffirm the singular attractiveness of her best works" ibid of which Cranford is one.<br/><br/>Hugh Thomson 1860-1920 was born in Kingsgate Street Coleraine Co. Londonderry the eldest child of John and Catherine Thomson. Thomson was educated in the model school in Coleraine. At age fourteen he started working at the local linen industry but three years later he entered the employment of Marcus Ward & Co. colour printers and publishers in Belfast where his talent for drawing was encouraged by John Vinycomb head of the art department. He married Jessie Naismith Miller in 1884 and moved to London where he took up employment with Macmillan & Co. on the English Illustrated Magazine joining some of the most distinguished writers and illustrators of the day. Thomson provided scenes of Covent Garden and Regency Bath and the illustrations for the Addison and Steele Spectator papers Days with Sir Roger de Coverley 1886-7. Thompson's style reflected the nostalgia of the time his fine line drawing of rural characters and gentle countrified society appealing to the imagination of the public. London: Macmillan and Co., 1895 unknown books