The Return of the Native
( H. MACBETH-RAEBURN, illus. ) HARDY, Thomas
With an Etching by H. Macbeth-Raeburn and a Map of Wessex. [Vol. VI of 'The Wessex Novels'. First US Edition thus].
FIRST US EDITION IN 'WESSEX NOVELS'
Published: Harpers, [1895]
Stock code: 50894
Price: £112.00
8vo., First Edition thus, on laid paper, with etched frontispiece and full-page map of Wessex in the text, endpapers lightly spotted; original decorative green ribbed cloth gilt, 'TH' monogram blocked in gilt on upper cover, gilt back, gilt top, uncut, upper hinge cracked (but binding entirely sound), a very good, bright, clean, crisp copy.
'Wessex Novels' (1895-6), published by Osgood McIlvaine (UK) and Harpers (USA), is the the first uniform and complete edition of Hardy's works. Each of the sixteen volumes has an etched frontispiece by Macbeth-Raeburn depicting a scene from the novel drawn on the spot (in this case 'Egdon Heath') 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. Sheets of the Osgood edition with an altered title-page were published in the USA by Harpers (Osgood's successors). See Purdy, pp.279-282. ALL VOLUMES OF THIS SERIES ARE SCARCE, ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONDITION.