Cranford

(London: The Folio Society, 1987). Introduction by Susan Hill. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. 8vo; original decorative papered boards backed by gilt-margined red cloth with gilt-on-blue spine titles; papered slipcase; pp. xii + 201; engravings in text. Fine condition. "By now, almost two hundred editions of Cranford have appeared, and though I doubt if it is read as widely as it once was, or loved so universally - and what classic of the nineteenth century is? - it still has a loyal and devoted following, and acquires new readers every time it is re-issued. Many attempts have been made to account for its longstanding place in the hearts of the reading public, as will always be the case with a popular classic, and there have been many interpretations and explanations and academic dissections of the text. Cranford has been many things to many people. ... But although it has serious points to make, and indeed is at heart a deeply serious book, Cranford is first and foremost a work of fiction, and of the creative imagination, a story whose messages have been wholly transmuted into art." .