UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE (First One-Volume Edition, First Illustrated Edition) Hardy, Thomas Thomas Hardy,Thomas Hardy First Editions and Manuscripts,Victorian Literarature

Hardy, Thomas. UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1876. First One-Volume Edition, and First illustrated edition with frontispiece and fifteen illustrations by R. Knight. Original green publisher's beveled cloth decorated in black and gilt, all edges gilt. A copy which is Very Good to NEAR FINE. The book is quite well preserved, gilt still very bright, with a small amount of edge wear. Inner hinges not cracked but with moderate foxing throughout. A bookplate has been removed from the front paste-down and the title page and frontispiece have some light staining. UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE was published anonymously in 1872 by Tinsley in a small edition of 500 copies, few of which survive today in original cloth. Upon the novel's generally good reviews, and following the wild success of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Tinsley put out this one-volume edition bearing Hardy's name. Tinsley was a second-tier publishing house at best. This edition was likely also small and, in keeping with Tinsley's reputation, equally likely to have been poorly advertised and distributed. Tinsley then quickly sold the novel's copyright to Chatto & Windus, thus this was the last Thomas Hardy book to bear its imprint. This is one of only a handful of copies of this edition we've seen in the last few decades and the first one we've seen in this kind of condition, with this much eye appeal. UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE was also notably the first Wessex novel and its modest success led directly to the subsequent publication of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. If one cannot find a first edition of UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE in cloth, this copy would certainly fill the spot on one's Thomas Hardy shelf with some genuine gravitas.