Books

London : Macmillan & Co., 1887. First edition : one of just 860 copies in the primary binding. The story of Grace Melbury, the faithful Giles Winterborne, and the faithless Edred Fitzpiers. Controversial for its time, but "his loveliest if not his finest book" (Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch) and "the most beautiful and most noble of Hardy's novels" (William Lyon Phelps) - and indeed Hardy's own favourite - "On taking up 'The Woodlanders' and reading it after many years, I like it as a story best of all". Three volumes. Crown 8vo (20cm). [iv],302,[ii]; [iv],328; [iv],316pp. Original holly-green cloth, ruled in black and lettered in gilt; a touch dulled; lightly worn at extremities; endpapers strained at hinges (two with neat repair); vol. i. recased and tightened; vols ii and iii a little shaken and slack; a handful of minor flaws, but a rare cloth set. Purdy pp.54-57.

The Woodlanders is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1887. The story is set in a small village in rural England, where the lives and loves of its inhabitants are closely interconnected. The novel explores themes of social change, rural life, and unrequited love.