[Hardy, Thomas.]--Jeaffreson, John Cordy.

8vo, 2 volumes, first edition, thomas hardy's copy, with his ownership signature on the title-page, volume 2 with a few marginal annotations by Hardy, illustration of Shelley's birthplace (torn from The Shelley Centenary) loosely inserted in volume 1 with subscription in pencil by Hardy ("Birthplace of Shelley. Field Place, nr. Horsham"), original brown cloth, spines with lettering and designs in gilt, very light browning, spotting to endpapers, extremities worn, upper hinges split

Thomas Hardy, ownership signature on title-page, Max Gate booklabels on upper pastedowns; Frederick B. Adams, Jr., his pencil annotations on front endpapers

All three of the pencil annotations by Hardy in volume 2 (detailed by Frederick Adams on the front endpapers) signal his disagreement with the line taken by Jeaffreson in this condemnatory biography of Shelley. For example, in the passage where Jeaffreson censures Shelley's "seduction" of Mary Godwin (Mary Shelley), Hardy corrects her age to "sixteen years & 11 months" (p.248). Another passage is marked as "most unjust" (p.401) and another with a straightforward "!" (p.402). Though sparse, these notes testify to Hardy's admiration for Shelley, who was, after all, "pre-eminent in Hardy's poetic pantheon" (Michael Millgate, A Biography Revisited, p.260).