The book includes two of the most famous novels by the English writer of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865). In the novel "Cranford," the translation of which is taken from issues 7–9 of the journal "Native Notes" from 1855, the life of an imaginary English town is described. In the novel "North and South," the translation of which is taken from issues 5–6 of the journal "Russian Herald" from 1856, the dynamic life of northern England is contrasted with its measured pace in the south of the country. The edition is adorned with illustrations by George du Maurier (1834–1896) and Hugh Thomson (1860–1920). Along with Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, and Charlotte Brontë, the Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell belongs to a brilliant cohort of English novelists. In 1832, she got married and moved to Manchester, spending the rest of her life there. This industrial city, in the writer's own words, appeared to her as a "scorching, awful, smoky, vile Babylon." Gaskell's first major work — the novel "Mary Barton" — was dedicated to the realities of harsh Manchester life. The themes in this novel remind one of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment." In the novel "North and South," Gaskell contrasts the dynamic industrial activity in northern England with the measured flow of life in the southern part of the country. The writer was drawn to idyllic pictures of "the good old England" that she remembered from her childhood. Gaskell lovingly and with a considerable degree of humor reproduces these images in her novel "Cranford." This is the name she gave to the small, imagined old-fashioned town where patriarchal morals prevail and quite determined women reside. "Cranford" reflects the writer's nostalgia for the distant country of her childhood and youth, which has faded into the mists of time. The style and gentle, friendly humor of this novel resemble Dickens' prose. The writer's friend, Charlotte Brontë, noted that "Cranford" is a lively, expressive, energetic, wise, and yet kind and lenient work. The edition is adorned with illustrations by two British artists: George du Maurier and Hugh Thomson. Du Maurier was born in 1834 in Paris, but his parents soon left France and settled in England. George initially studied chemistry at University College London, but then devoted himself entirely to drawing. Soon he became a well-known caricaturist who collaborated for a long time with the British satirical magazine "Punch." Du Maurier also illustrated books. Due to vision problems, he had to stop drawing, and in the latter half of his life, he wrote several novels in the "gothic style." Hugh Thomson was born in 1860 in Northern Ireland. He did not receive systematic artistic education, but this did not prevent him from gaining fame as a classic of book illustration during his lifetime. Thomson managed to illustrate hundreds of books, among which were novels by Dickens, Thackeray, Austen, and plays by Shakespeare. The public was fascinated by how accurately he conveyed the details of interiors, landscapes, clothing of characters, and their personalities in his drawings. All these features are present in his illustrations for the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell.
