HARDY, Thomas.

£8,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Works. The Mellstock edition, one of 500 sets signed by the author in volume I. The Mellstock is one of the most attractive collected editions of Hardy, printed in a clear and legible type on handmade paper, particularly scarce in its original dust jackets.At Hardy's suggestion this edition was named after his fictional "Mellstock", a combination of the Stinsford in Dorset - where his heart is now buried - and the Higher and Lower Bockhamptons. The publication was originally projected in July 1914 but was halted by the outbreak of the First World War. The text is largely a resetting of the Wessex edition with the exception of A Pair of Blue Eyes, for which Hardy sent the publishers five pages of corrections and additions on 18 June 1919 (Purdy, p. 288).Examples of this set are often found rebound or without dust jackets. We trace no other set with dust jackets on the market and only two in auction records.

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