‘Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras’

‘Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras’ was published in three parts in Howitt’s Journal on 5, 12 and 19 June 1847 (1:23, pp. 310–13; 1:24, pp. 334–6; 1:25, pp. 345–7) with the title ‘Life in Manchester/Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras’ and signed by ‘Cotton Mather Mills, Esq.’. Gaskell’s connection with William and Mary Howitt began by correspondence in 1838 (see headnotes to ‘Clopton Hall’, p. 37, and ‘Cheshire Customs’, p. 43). They met for the first time in 1841 while sharing lodgings in Heidelberg (see Letters, pp. 42–3). The couple launched Howitt’s Journal of Literature and Popular Progress on 1 January 1847, dedicated, as the ‘Address to their Friends and Readers’ proclaimed, ‘to the cause of Peace, of Temperance, of Sanatory reform, of Schools for every class – to all the efforts of Free Trade, free opinion; to abolition of obstructive Monopolies, and the recognition of those great rights which belong to every individual of the great British people’. ¹