“We were struck in reading her various volumes with this fact—that there is really less in them than there is in most other authors which she herself could wish to be altered. In fact, there is no purer author in modern times. And what has she lost by being pure? Has she failed to give a fair representation of any class of human beings whom she professes to depict? Not one; and her work stands now as an excellent model for those who would avoid the tendencies of the sensuous school, and would seek another basis upon which to acquire a reputation which should have some chances of durability. The author of Wives and Daughters will never cease to hold a high place in our regard. Could she do so we should despair for the future of fiction in England. Hers was one of those spirits which led the way to a purer day.” (Cornhill Magazine, February, 1874.)
“Mrs. Gaskell as an artist has clearly used other experiences than those that Knutsford offered, and, transmuting all through her kindly and generous nature, has given us the delightful pure idyll (Cranford) that we know, the most tenderly humorous book that our literature has seen since Goldsmith wrote. One of the great distinctions of Mrs. Gaskell is in the kindliness of her humour; she is, strange to say, the only woman novelist who is entirely kindly, benevolently humorous.… This benevolent humour of Mrs. Gaskell is to be found in all her books, and it is to be found above all in Cranford.” (Introduction to Cranford. The World’s Classics, 1906.)
| 1837. | Sketches among the Poor. Blackwood’s Magazine. January. |
| 1840. | Clopton Hall. Howitt’s Visits to Remarkable Places. |
| 1847. | Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras. Howitt’s Journal, I. |
| Sexton’s Hero. Howitt’s Journal, II. |
| 1848. | Christmas Storms and Sunshine. Howitt’s Journal, III. |
| Mary Barton. A tale of Manchester Life.
2 vols. London. Chapman & Hall. Fifth Edition 1854; German Edition
1849; French Translation 1856. Has been published by at least a dozen
publishers since the copyright ran out. |
| 1849. | Hand and Heart. Sunday School Penny Magazine. |
| 1850. | Lizzie Leigh. Household Words. March 30. |
| Well of Pen Morfa. Household Words. November 16 and 23. |
| The Heart of John Middleton. Household Words. December 28. |
| The Moorland Cottage. Chapman & Hall.
Republished in 1892. |
| 1851. | Mr. Harrison’s Confessions. Ladies’ Companion.
February, March, April. |
| Disappearances. Household Words. June 7. |
| Cranford. Household Words. December 13, 1851, to May, 1853. |
| 1852. | The Schah’s English Gardener. Household Words. June 19. |
| The Old Nurse’s Story. Household Words. Christmas Number. |
| Bessy’s Troubles at Home. Sunday School Penny Magazine. January. |
| 1853. | Cumberland Sheep-shearers. Household Words. January 22. |
| Cranford. Chapman & Hall. 1 vol. |
| Cheap editions 1853-5; French Translation 1856; German Translation 1857.
Republished by more than twenty publishers in England and America since
the copyright ran out. |
| Morton Hall. Household Words. November 19 and 26. |
| Traits and Stories of Huguenots. Household Words. December 10. |
| My French Master. Household Words. December 17 and 24. |
| The Squire’s Story. Household Words. Christmas Number. |
| Introduction to The Scholar’s Story. Household Words. Christmas Number. |
| Ruth, a novel. Chapman & Hall. 3 vols.
Third Edition 1855; American Edition 1855; French Translation 1856.
Published by three other publishers in 1857 1861, 1872. Reissued after
the copyright ceased by three different publishers. |
| 1854. | Modern Greek Songs. Household Words. February 25. |
| Company Manners. Household Words. May 20. |
| North and South. Household Words. September 2, 1854, to January
27, 1855. |
| Lizzie Leigh. Chapman and Hall. 1 vol.
German Edition 1855. |
| 1855. | An Accused Race. Household Words. August 25. |
| Half a Lifetime Ago. Household Words. October 6, 13, 20. |
| North and South. Chapman & Hall.
2 vols. Second Edition 1855; Fourth Edition 1859; American Edition 1864;
French Edition 1859. Reissued by two publishers after the copyright ran out. |
| 1856. | The Poor Chare. Household Words. December 13 and 27. |
| 1857. | Life of Charlotte Brontë. Smith, Elder
& Co. 2 vols. Third Edition revised and corrected 1857; American Edition
1857; Cheap Edition 1860; French Edition 1877. After the copyright
ran out it was reissued in the Haworth Edition in 1900 with introduction and
notes by Clement Shorter. Thornton Edition with introduction by B. W.
Willett and notes by Temple Scott, 1901. Republished by three other publishers. |
| Edited Mabel Vaughan by Miss Cummins
and wrote Preface. Sampson Low & Co. |
| 1858. | Doom of the Griffiths. Harper’s Magazine. January. |
| My Lady Ludlow. Household Words. June 19 to September 25. |
| Right at Last (under title of Sin of a Father). Household Words.
November 27. |
| The Half Brothers. Dublin University Magazine. November. |
| Manchester Marriage. Household Words. Christmas Number. |
| 1859. | Lois the Witch. All the Year Round. October 8 and 22. |
| The Ghost in the Garden Room. All the Year Round. Christmas Number.
(Reprinted under title of The Crooked Branch.) |
| Round the Sofa. London: Sampson
Low & Co. 2 vols. French Translation 1860; Second French Edition 1865. |
| 1860. | Right at Last and Other Tales. Sampson
Low & Co. American Edition Harper & Brothers. |
| Curious if True. Cornhill Magazine. February. |
| 1861. | The Grey Woman. All the Year Round. January 5, 12, 19. |
| My Lady Ludlow and Other Tales. London:
Sampson Low & Co. New Edition 1866; American Edition 1867. |
| 1862. | Six Weeks at Heppenheim. Cornhill Magazine. May. |
| Preface to Garibaldi at Caprera. Macmillan & Co. |
| 1863. | A Dark Night’s Work. All the Year Round.
January 24 to March 21. |
| A Dark Night’s Work. German Translation
1865; English Editions published 1863 and 1871. Smith, Elder & Co. |
| An Italian Institution. All the Year Round. March 21. |
| The Cage at Cranford. All the Year Round. November 28. |
| Cousin Phillis. Cornhill Magazine. November, 1863, to February, 1864. |
| Crowley Castle. All the Year Round. Christmas Number. |
| Sylvia’s Lovers. London: Smith, Elder
& Co. 3 vols. German Translation 1864; French Translation 1865. Since
the copyright ran out it has been republished in a cheap edition. |
| Robert Gould Shaw. Macmillan’s Magazine. December. |
| 1864. | French Life. Fraser’s Magazine. April, May, June. |
| Wives and Daughters. Cornhill Magazine. August, 1864, to January, 1866. |
| 1865. | Cousin Phillis and Other Tales. London:
Smith, Elder & Co. French Translation 1866; German Edition 1867. |
| The Green Woman and Other Tales.
London: Smith, Elder & Co. |
| 1866. | Wives and Daughters. London: Smith,
Elder & Co. 3 vols. American Edition 1866; German Translation
1867; French Translation 1868. |
| 1906. | Two Fragments of Ghost Stories printed for the first time
in Cousin Phillis, Knutsford Edition. |
| Short poem “On Visiting the Grave of my Stillborn Little Girl,” written
in 1836 and published for the first time in the biographical introduction
to Mary Barton, Knutsford Edition. |