A Changed Man, The Waiting Supper and other Tales, concluding with The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid
( H. MACBETH-RAEBURN, illus. ) HARDY, Thomas
[With an Etching by H. Macbeth-Raeburn and a Map of Wessex. Vol. XVIII of The Wessex Novels].
BRIGHT, CLEAN, CRISP COPY OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION
Published: Macmillan, 1913
Stock code: 22837
Price: £166.00
8vo., First Edition, on laid paper, with etched frontispiece (original tissue guard present) and double-page map in the text, neat signature onj front free endpaper; original series binding of decorative ribbed dark-green cloth gilt, 'TH' monogram blocked in gilt on upper cover, gilt back, gilt top, uncut, covers fractionally age-scuffed else a very good, bright, clean, crisp copy.
With 2pp publisher's advertisement at end. Osgood's 'Wessex Novels' is the first uniform and complete edition of Hardy's works. 'The edition is an important one. The text of every novel was thoroughly and carefully revised, the topography (names and distances) corrected where necessary, chapters frequently retitled, and much rewriting done. In addition Hardy prepared a special preface for each volume' (Purdy p.281). Each of the sixteen original volumes has an etched frontispiece by Macbeth-Raeburn (depicting a scene from the novel drawn on the spot; in this case 'The Castle of Mai-Dun') and a map of Wessex drawn by Hardy himself. In terms of book production, these are undoubtedly the finest trade editions of Hardy's works. Although published by Hardy's subsequent publisher Macmillan, the present volume was produced in matching format as 'Volume XVIII' to retain uniformity (the last volume of Hardy's work to be so issued). 'A Changed Man' collects for the first time twelve short stories that had been published previously in serial form, together with a new short Prefatory Note by the author. In addition to the three tales mentioned in the title, the others are 'Alicia's Diary', 'The Grave by the Handpost', 'Enter a Dragoon', 'A Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork', 'What the Shepherd saw', 'A Committee-Man of the Terror', 'Master John Horseleigh, Knight', 'The Duke's Reappearance' and 'A Mere Interlude'. The stories date from 1881 ('What the Shepherd saw'); the last two ('A Changed Man' and 'Enter a Dragoon', both 1899) mark the close of Hardy's work in prose fiction. ALL VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES ARE SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION. See Purdy, pp.151-157, 281.