3 volumes, 8vo. Half-titles. Original pictorial red cloth stamped in black, rear cover blocked with 2-rule border, spines stamped in black and gilt [Sadleir variant A binding] (rebacked preserving the original spines and endpapers). Provenance: A.R. Stevens (signature to vol. II front pastedown, 1890); Arthur C. Moore (signature, June 1891); Christopher Freville Huntley (1912-2007), English book collector (armorial bookplates).

FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, originally published as a serial in Good Words magazine that same year. Hardy’s only historical novel, set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars. Despite being a success with critics and Hardy himself drawing the two vignettes for the volumes’ front covers, the novel in book form did not sell well. Purdy, pp.31-35; Sadleir 1115; Wolff 2995.