Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy (Harper & Brothers, 1898)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy (Harper & Brothers, 1898)
This Harper & Brothers edition (1898) is of interest to collectors of Thomas Hardy, Victorian fiction, and decorative publisher's cloth bindings of the 1890s.
About: A very good copy in the original dark blue-green cloth with gilt Art Nouveau Harper monogram medallion to front board and gilt lettering and floral ornament to spine. The gilt is remarkably well preserved — spine lettering fully legible and bright, floral stamp sharp and vivid, front board medallion intact and clean — a standard of preservation rarely encountered in copies of this age. Cloth shows some soiling to rear board and minor fraying at spine ends; fore-edge toned. Interior sound: paper cream and clean; Hardy's ‘Explanatory Note to the First Edition’ present; text block tight and complete.
Details:
- Title: Tess of the D’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman
- Author: Thomas Hardy
- Publisher: Harper & Brothers, London and New York, 45 Albemarle Street, W.
- Publication Date: 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII)
- Edition: Harper & Brothers one-volume edition (first published Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1891)
- Binding: Original dark blue-green cloth, gilt spine and front board
- Condition: Very Good
Synopsis: Harper & Brothers 1898 one-volume edition in the original decorative cloth; remarkably bright gilt spine lettering and Art Nouveau monogram medallion; Hardy’s ‘Explanatory Note to the First Edition’ present; a handsome copy of one of the great Victorian novels.
Review: Tess of the d’Urbervilles (first published 1891) is widely regarded as Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece and one of the defining novels of the Victorian era. The story of Tess Durbeyfield, seduced, abandoned, and ultimately destroyed by the social and moral hypocrisies of her time, caused a sensation on publication and remains one of the most powerful and enduring works of English fiction. The Harper & Brothers editions of the 1890s, with their characteristic Art Nouveau decorative cloth, are among the most attractive publisher’s bindings of the period.