The Works of Thomas Hardy. THE MELLSTOCK EDITION - SIGNED BY HARDY

(HARDY)

Published by Macmillan & Co. 1919/20.

About this Item

37 vols. Tall 8vo. Nice blue cloth, with front blocked in gold with a solid TH monogram medallion of acorns and oak leaves. The same leaf motif is repeated on elaborate gt.decor.on spines. The paper bears Hardy's initials as watermark. In very good condition. Some minor rubbing on edges. A few spines are slightly faded. Vol XIII Under Greenwood Tree has very small 1cm split rear hinge, & Vol XXX Changed Man has small chip lower front hinge, Vol XVIII & XIX Trumpet Major both have very slight crease down centre of spine. Inside some light foxing, pages a little rough cut, as published else clean & tight. Size 9.25 x 6.25 inches VOLUME 1 IS SIGNED BY HARDY, and has an etched portrait by WILLIAM STRANG as a frontispiece. Vol.2 has the "Map of Wessex of the Novels and Poems". This is an EDITION DE LUXE, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Trained as an architect he worked as such until he was able to support himself by writing in 1874. His early poetical work met with little success, and he turned to novels as being more saleable. His first two novels, ?Desperate Remedies? 1871, and ?Under the Geenwood Tree? 1872 were published anonymously. The next two ?A Pair of Blue Eyes? 1873, and ?Far From The Madding Crowd? 1874, published under his own name were well received. In the latter he portrayed Dorsetshire as the imaginary Wessex. Other great Hardy novels are ?The Return of the Native? 1878, ?Tess of the D?Urbervilles? 1891 and ?Jude the Obscure? 1895. Through intense vivid descriptions of heath, fields, seasons, the weather Wessex attains a physical presence and acts as a mirror to the conditions and fortunes of the characters, all are dominated by the determinism of Charles Darwin. This is particularly so in ?Jude?, which treats sexual attraction as a natural force unstoppable by human will. Criticism of ?Jude? was so harsh that Hardy announced that he was cured of writing novels. Hardy returned to the poetry he had abandoned earlier. In the Dynasts, an epic poem dealing with England's role in the Napoleonic wars, Hardy creates his most successful poetry.

Seller Inventory # 90915

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Works of Thomas Hardy. THE MELLSTOCK EDITION - SIGNED BY HARDY
• Publisher: Macmillan & Co. 1919/20.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature