" " An Initial Letter by George du Maurier
Initial letter

Initial letter

George du Maurier

Wood engraving by Joseph Swain

3 x 2 inches

Gaskell, Elizabeth.Wives and Daughters,.The Cornhill Magazine 10 (August 1864): 129.

This initial letter faces the illustration of ‘Molly’s New Bonnet’ and extends the reader/viewer’s understanding of her world by showing her out riding with her father, Dr Gibson. The closeness of the bond is thus established on the very first page of the serialized text, an intimacy that will be destroyed by Mrs Kirkpatrick and Cynthia. Though important in building up the novel’s strata of implication, the initials only appeared in the magazine instalments, and were deleted from the first edition in book-form.

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  • Elizabeth Gaskell (homepage)

    • Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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