Hardy, Thomas.

first edition, number 322 in 'Harper's Franklin Square Library', illustrations by C.S. Reinhart, stapled leaves, housed in green cloth chemise and slipcase, slightly browned, a few creases, some fraying at spine, tape repairs to first and last leaves at staples, first leaf almost detached; [together with:] The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid. A Novel. New York: F.M. Lupton (3 Park Place), March 1886, new series vol. I no. 80 in 'The Leisure Hour Library', bound in later blue wrappers, housed in brown cloth folder (with another copy stating "third edition" and the publisher's address as 63 Murray St.), slightly browned, with a few small nicks edges; The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid. New York: George Munro's Sons, 9 January 1896, no. 83 of Munro's Library of Popular Novels (pirated edition), original printed wrappers, browning and spotting; The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid. Leipzig: Bernard Tauchnitz, 1914, original printed wrappers, joints splitting (4)



together with an autograph letter signed by hardy to Arthur Locker, editor of the Graphic magazine, confirming that the "story is nearly finished, & I hope to send it in about a week or ten days", 1 page, 8vo, Lanherne, Wimborne, 13 February 1883

The library of Frederick B. Adams, Jr. (sold at Sotheby's, 7 November 2001, lot 413), bookplates

Purdy, pp.47-9

This story was first published in the Graphic in their summer number for 1883 (25 June); it was the first of Hardy's many contributions to the magazine. The present letter by Hardy, addressed to the editor of the Graphic, is printed in The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, vol I, p.115.

"The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid...was a loosely constructed exercise in fantasy-romance that derived its modest charm from the juxtaposition of authentic rural description with the vaguely 'Gothic' elements embodied in the mysterious figure of Baron von Xanten" (Michael Millgate, Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited, p.220).