Hardy (Thomas) The Return of the Native, 3 vol., first edition in book form, first issue, original …

Hardy (Thomas) The Return of the Native, 3 vol., first edition in book form, first issue without quotation mark after 'A Pair of Blue Eyes on title, [one of 1000 copies], half-titles, with map frontispiece by Hardy in vol.1, advertisement leaf at end of vol.2, some foxing, mostly at beginnings and ends, some hinges weak, bookplate of Nigel Ronald, original brown cloth blocked in black on upper cover and with 2-rule border in blind on lower (primary binding), spines gilt, cream endpapers, a little rubbed and marked, slightly cocked, preserved in modern cloth drop-back box, [Purdy p.24], 8vo, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1878. ⁂ First published in monthly instalments from January to December 1878 in Belgravia but issued in book form with several alterations, particularly in Book III Chapter 8 and Book IV Chapter 1. Despite now being regarded as one of his most important novels, with its brooding setting of the menacing Egdon Heath, it was poorly reviewed, probably because of its controversial themes, and was later remaindered.