The Return of the Native

Hardy, Thomas

Published by Smith, Elder, & Co, London, 1878

About this Item

FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, FIRST ISSUE, without the single quotation mark after "A Pair of Blue Eyes" on the title-page of the first volume. Frontispiece map by Hardy of the scene of the story in Volume I. vi, 303; vi, 297, [3]; vi, 320 pp. 2 pages of undated ads in Volume II with 2 Hardy titles mentioned. 3 vols. 8vo. The Return of the Native was first published serially in Belgravia from January to December 1878. The first edition in book form of 1,000 copies incorporated several new chapter titles as well as other deletions and additions to the text. "A renewed preoccupation with regional materials and topography is immediately signalled . by the presence, as frontispiece, of Hardy's own 'Sketch map of the scene of the story', identifiably based on the heathland of his childhood. Also quickly apparent is the ambitiousness of the novel's conception. Its principal characters may ultimately lack grandeur the reformist Clym Yeobright emerging as an arid idealist, the romantic Eustacia Vye as a woman of very ordinary imagination and desires but structure, imagery, and allusions persistently evoke both a native primitivism and the conventions of classical theatre . The Return of the Native, even so, was not enthusiastically reviewed" (ODNB). Purdy p.24-27; Sadleir 1113; Wilson 49 Publisher's brown cloth decorated with black and gilt, light rubbing overall, hinges of volume two tender, bookplates of Carol Atwood Wilson; in a custom blue half-morocco clamshell slipcase and chemise Frontispiece map by Hardy of the scene of the story in Volume I. vi, 303; vi, 297, [3]; vi, 320 pp. 2 pages of undated ads in Volume II with 2 Hardy titles mentioned. 3 vols. 8vo FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, FIRST ISSUE, without the single quotation mark after "A Pair of Blue Eyes" on the title-page of the first volume. Seller Inventory # 352062

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Return of the Native

Publisher: Smith, Elder, & Co, London

Publication Date: 1878

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: 1st Edition