This is a rare edition of Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell, with illustrations by Hugh Thomson. It was published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company in London, which is why I have linked it to this location on the map. The call number for the book is X 823 G248c and it is housed in the rare books collection at the Armstrong Browning Library.
This text is beautifully illustrated and in perfect condition, contributing to its rarity. One of the features which is most interesting about the illustrations in this edition of the book is the difference in the way women and men are depicted. Cranford is a thoroughly female-centric novel, with women as protagonists, narrator, and audience, and the illustrations of women portray strikingly them in their element—active, in detail, and winsome. On the other hand, the illustrations of men in the text are much more caricatured, passive, and ridiculous. I have included two examples of illustrations that convey this gendered difference in representation. As this is a later publication of the novel, I would be interested in tracing the progression of illustrations in Cranford with particular attention to female/male discrepancy in editions which pre- and post-date this one.
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