Collecting Thomas Hardy

Novelist and Poet   1840-1928

Hardy, Thomas.  TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES.  NY:  Burt, (1924).  First Photoplay edition.  A FINE copy (just a touch of light sunning to the spine, but no wear) of this early film photoplay edition which was issued in tandem with the 1924 film adaptation of Tess.  Four black and white still photos from the movie have been inserted within the text.  In a FINE ORIGINAL DUST JACKET.  

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Hardy, Thomas. AN INDISCRETION IN THE LIFE OF AN HEIRESS. London: Hutchinson, 1976. First English Trade Edition, preceded in the UK only by the signed limited edition of 100 copies published by the second Mrs. Hardy shortly after his death in 1928. A Fine copy in a Very Good Plus dust jacket with a few closed tears on the back panel. The story is all that remained of his first attempt at novel writing which received multiple rejections and some harsh criticism. Although no-one wanted to publish THE POOR MAN AND THE LADY, Hardy made use of some of it by placing sections in his other novels. That which remained became this title and it did get printed once in his lifetime, a periodical appearance in 1878 in "The New Quarterly Magazine.". This neat little volume offers the opportunity to read the story as it appeared in 1878 and to do so from the volume that author John Fowles, a Hardy disciple, kept on his shelves. Purchased directly from the Fowles estate.

Hardy, Thomas. SONG OF THE SOLDIERS. Hove (Brighton): E. Williams, 1914. First trade edition, first issue (with comma after "9th September" on the title-page). 4pp. Printed on the 16th of September, 1914 (the British Museum received their copy on the 10th of October 1914), this was the first authorized trade edition (see Purdy p. 158). In unfolded, Near Fine condition, just a trifle age-toned. This poem shortly thereafter appeared in hardcover in Hardy's first edition of Satires Of Circumstance (1914) under the title "Men Who March Away." One of the most powerful, and oft anthologised, of Hardy's World War One poems. Pretty copy in an attractive cloth folding case. lettered in gilt. Privately Printed.

(Fowles, John.)   Gittings, Robert.  YOUNG THOMAS HARDY.  London:  Heinemann, 1975.  First Edition.  Fowles’ copy of this well-known biography with a number of passages marked, some in red ink.  Laid in is a gift card from Fowles’ first wife Elizabeth (d.1990) dated 31 March 1975 which was Fowles’ 49th birthday.  [With]  A HAND-DRAWN THOMAS HARDY FAMILY TREE (n.p., n.d.) FEATURING THE HARDY-SPARKS-HAND BRANCHES OF HARDY’S FAMILY.  FURTHER ANNOTATED WITH A VARIETY OF FOWLES’ BARELY LEGIBLE NOTATIONS BUT CLEARLY HIS ATTEMPT TO VERIFY THE ONCE CONTROVERSIAL ROMANCE AND BROKEN ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HARDY AND HIS COUSIN TRYPHENA SPARKS WHICH FEATURES IN THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN.  The scorings in red ink in Gittings’ book mostly concern themselves with these same Hardy-Tryphena hypotheses.   

Lea, Hermann.  THOMAS HARDY'S WESSEX.  London:  Macmillan, 1913.  First Edition.  A VERY GOOD copy in original publisher's maroon cloth gilt, evenly worn but still bright.  Frontispiece and prelims lightly foxed.  Designed as a companion piece in binding style to Macmillan's WESSEX EDITION (the definitive Hardy text) first published in 1912, it reveals via photograph the actual locations which inspired Hardy's fictional Wessex.  

Hardy, Thomas.  FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD.  New York:  The Book League of America, 1933.  Reprint edition.  A FINE copy in a blue Deco-inspired binding decorated in gold.  The dustjacket is equally FINE with a similarly attractive Deco-inspired look.  This copy was not sold in shops, it was printed in small numbers and posted directly to members of the Book League.

Hardy, Thomas.  THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE.  London:  Macmillan, 1926.  A Fine copy in a Near Fine dustjacket, a six-shilling reprint which is an uncommon survival in such fresh condition.  Lots of eye appeal.

Hardy, Thomas. TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1899. Rare Salesman's dummy for a set of the novels of Thomas Hardy published by Harper & Brothers of New York. Original publisher's decorated cloth, blocked in red and black. In NEAR FINE condition with good eye appeal. The contents include a sample title-page for Tess (dated 1899) with 16 representative plates and an excerpt from Tess. On the front paste-down are three examples of red cloth spines belonging to Jude The Obscure, Wessex Tales, and Tess Of The D'Urbervilles. A fascinating look at turn-of-the-century bookselling practices.

Hardy, Thomas. A PAIR OF BLUE EYES. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates, (n.d. but 1897). Attractive reprint edition of Hardy's third novel here found in original publisher's decorated cloth. A FINE example. Prior owner's signature (dated 1897) on front free endpaper. Reprints of Hardy's novels prior to 1900 in this kind of condition are uncommon.

HAND-DRAWN  THOMAS HARDY FAMILY TREE