Elizabeth Gaskell, 1977, Series 561

Elizabeth Gaskell was the 425th title in the 561 series.  Because it is so late in the series, it was produced after the era of  L du Garde Peach and John Kenney – both died a few years before.  It was written by Barbara Brill and illustrated by Roger Hall.  It was only ever published with this style of cover – unlike other books in this series.

This book is particularly hard to find.  It was the very last matt book I ever located when I was building up my own collection.  I’d almost given up home by the time I found one.

This copy:

In very good condition inside and out – not much wear and clean pages. The matt white cover of these books usually looks a bit grubby on this books, and this one is no exception.  The pages are in clean, tight condition but there are a couple of very small, subtle signs that it was once in a library: a tiny stamp on preliminary pages and a small ‘pocket’ on the back endpapers.  It is probably a first edition, is the last title listed on the back and has an original price of 24p stamped on the back.