A Laodicean. A Story of To-Day. With an Etching by H. Macbeth-Raeburn and a Map of Wessex [Vol. XIV of The Wessex Novels].

8vo., First Edition thus, on laid paper, with an etched frontispiece and full-page map in the text, small neat signatures on front free endpaper; original decorative ribbed cloth gilt, 'TH' monogram blocked in gilt on upper cover, gilt back, gilt top, uncut, case a little shaken (but binding entirely sound), cloth rubbed from short length of upper board fore-edge backstrip lightly chafed (without material loss) at head and tail, a very good, bright copy of a scarce edition. Osgood's 'Wessex Novels' was the first uniform and complete edition of Hardy's works. 'The edition is an important one. The text of every novel was thoroughly and carefully revised, the topography (names and distances) corrected where necessary, chapters frequently retitled, and much rewriting done. In addition Hardy prepared a special preface for each volume' (Purdy p.281). Each of the sixteen volumes has an etched frontispiece by Macbeth-Raeburn depicting a scene from the novel drawn on the spot (in this case 'A View near the Scene of the 'Stancy Castle' of the story') and a map of Wessex drawn by Hardy himself. In terms of book production, these are undoubtedly the finest trade editions of Hardy's works. All volumes of this series are scarce, this title more than most. See Purdy, pp 279-282.