Cranford
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a story by Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1853. This little book is a charming picture of quiet life in an English village. The people, particularly the ladies of this village, are described by Mary Smith, an observing young person from a nearby town. The ladies of Cranford scorn the "vulgarity of wealth," and practice "elegant economy." The story is full of a quaint and almost pathetic humor. Its popularity seems to increase, and it is already counted as a classic. In recent years two American women have produced books which may be compared with Cranford and not suffer by the comparison: Old Chester Tales by Mrs. Deland, and Friendship Village by Zona Gale. The following is from Cranford: For keeping the trim gardens full of choice flowers without a weed to speck them; for frightening away little boys who look wistfully at the said flowers through the railings; for rushing out at the geese that occasionally venture into the gardens if the gates are left open; for deciding all questions of literature and politics without troubling themselves with unnecessary reasons or arguments; for obtaining clear and correct knowledge of everybody's affairs in the parish; for keeping their neat maid-servants in admirable order; for kindness (somewhat dictatorial) to the poor, and real tender good offices to each other whenever they are in distress,--the ladies of Cranford are quite sufficient. "A man," as one of them observed to me once, "is so in the way in the house!" See Gaskell ; Mrs. Elizabeth
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that Cranford's "popularity seems to increase, and it is already counted as a classic" has held: the book, serialised in Dickens's Household Words from 1851 and issued as a volume in 1853, is still read and still taken as the affectionate portrait of Knutsford, Cheshire, where Gaskell grew up. What has moved is the standing of the rest of her work. In 1910 Cranford was the Gaskell that mattered; since the 1960s and 70s, and especially under feminist criticism, Mary Barton, North and South and the unfinished Wives and Daughters have been ranked at least as highly, and Gaskell is now studied as a novelist of industrial conflict as much as of quiet villages. The two American books Aiton offers as equals — Margaret Deland's Old Chester Tales and Zona Gale's Friendship Village — have largely dropped from view, while Cranford reached a new audience through the BBC series of 2007 starring Judi Dench, which wove the story together with other Gaskell tales.
Written for this edition, 2026.