Wessex Poems and Other Verses

London: Harper & Brothers, 45 Albemarle Street, 1898. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Fine. First Impression of the author's first collection of poems, one of only 500 copies. Crown 8vo (200 x 131mm): xi,[1],228pp, with 31 illustrations (13 full-page, including frontispiece) reproduced from drawings by Hardy. Publisher's original forest green bold-ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt, gilt medallion enclosing TH monogram to upper cover, top edge gilt, others uncut. Ex libris of Harald Pedersen (1888-1945), Norwegian metallurgist, politician, and Nazi collaborator. End sheets lightly foxed, else a superlative example, virtually pristine, on heavy paper, very tightly bound. Purdy, pp. 96-106. Hayward 310. Wolff 2998. Webb, pp. 97-98. Hardy considered himself primarily a poet, claiming that his extraordinary novel-writing career was the result of financial expediency. Hardy had been working on this collection of 51 poems since the 1860s. "But it was only on the cusp of the twentieth century, feeling financially secure and with a reputation as one of the most distinguished novelists of the day, that he felt free to withdraw from prose fiction and follow his inclination toward poetry." , , , Hardy's career as a publishing poet spanned almost thirty years, from 1898 until the publication of Winter Words a few months after his death in 1928. . . . Chiefly written in the lyric and ballad form, Hardy's poetry explores the themes of rural life and nature, love and loss, cosmic indifference, the ravages of time, the inevitability of death and inhuman ironies of war." (Literary Encyclopedia) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).