Wessex Edition. Twenty-one consecutive octavo volumes (8 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches; 221 x 143 mm). Includes the complete set of The Wessex Novels. With photogravure frontispieces and double-page maps of Wessex at the end of each volume.

Bound by Zaehnsdorf in 1914, in full purple calf. Gilt triple-rule border on covers. Spines decoratively paneled in gilt, with four red morocco floral onlays and three brown morocco lettering labels. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Gilt dentelles. A bit of rubbing to some board edges and head and tail of a few spines. Overall a near fine and very attractive set.

“The Wessex Edition is in every sense the definitive edition of Hardy’s work and the last authority in question of text” (Purdy). Three further volumes of Verse were published several years later in 1919-31. Satires of Circumstance, Moments of Vision (1919), Late Lyrics and Earlier, The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall (1926) and Human Shows, Winter Words (1931).

Purdy, pp. 282-285.

HBS # 65836 $6,000