Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
HARDY, THOMAS. Wessex Poems and Other Verses. Harper & Brothers, London, 1898.
Price: US$352.90 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Ediition of 500 . A bright firm copy with slight browning. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: LONGLAND BOOKS, Totteridge, LDN, United Kingdom
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. 228pp. Original publisher's forest green decorative cloth with bold gilt central circular design bearing the author's monogram and a floral motif, spine gilt. This is the first edition of the author's first collection of poems, one of only 500 copies, with 31 illustrations (13 full-page, including frontispiece) by Thomas Hardy. Top edge gilt, others uncut. The covers are significantly blemished with water fading. however, priced accordingly, and quite a rare Hardy title, who considered himself primarily a poet. His poetry in "Wessex Poems" explores the themes of rural life, love and loss, the ravages of time, death and the inhuman ironies of war.
Seller: Nudelman Rare Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Hardy, Thomas. Wessex Poems - First Edition. Harpers, London, 1898.
Price: US$595.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition, one of only 500 copies. Very good condition with some light foxing, particularly on the frontis tissue guard, some shelf wear on bottom of boards. A very nice copy of a scarce volume, the first collection of Hardy's poems.
Seller: Alandian Books, Redmond, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1024.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 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.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Hardy Thomas. WESSEX POEMS. And Other Verses. New York and London Harper and Brothers 1898, 1898.
Price: US$1650.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. With 30 illustrations by the author. 8vo, publishers original blue ribbed cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, upper cover with Hardys floral monogram device in gilt. xi, 228 pp. A very handsome and pleasing copy, internally very fine and essentially pristine, the cloth very well preserved, spine just a tad mellowed. FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH. A lovely copy of Hardys first significant publishing venture as a poet. Though better known now as a novelist, Hardy rated poetry above fiction. Like many of his novels, the landscapes of Dorset echoes throughout his writing. The poetry is scarce, unadorned and surprisingly modern. Though first published in 1898 it contains poems hed been working on since the 1860s.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
HARDY, Thomas.. Wessex Poems and Other Verses.. London: Harper & Brothers, 1898, 1898.
Price: US$1924.90 + shipping
Description: First edition of Hardy's first book of poems, one of 500 copies, a very nice example in the original cloth. This collection "brought together newly written poems, poems composed during the novel-writing years, and still others revised from originals drafted in London during the 1860s. Because a similar mix occurs in all of his volumes, individual poems are often hard to date and the volumes themselves elusive of characterization" (ODNB). Following its publication, "the thirty years that remained to Hardy were devoted to the composition of poetry, the resumption of work very dear to him which had been almost wholly laid aside, with the exigencies of novel-writing, since the decade of the 1860s" (Purdy, p. 105). Purdy pp. 96-106. Octavo. Original dark green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, medallion design with "TH" monogram to front cover in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Frontispiece with tissue guard, 13 illustrated plates, illustrations to the text throughout by the author. A few bumps to spine ends and front cover, a couple of small damp stains to covers, gutter cracked between a few gatherings, but firm, foxing to edges, endpapers, and first few leaves, contents otherwise clean: a very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom