Description

One of Thomas Hardy's most powerful works, The Return of the Native centers famously on Egdon Heath, the wild, haunted Wessex moor that D. H. Lawrence called "the real stuff of tragedy." The heath's changing face mirrors the fortunes of the farmers, inn-keepers, sons, mothers, and lovers who populate the novel. The "native" is Clym Yeobright, who comes home from a cosmopolitan life in Paris. He; his cousin Thomasin; her fiancé, Damon Wildeve; and the willful Eustacia Vye are the protagonists in a tale of doomed love, passion, alienation, and melancholy as Hardy brilliantly explores that theme so familiar throughout his fiction: the diabolical role of chance in determining the course of a life. Illustrated by Roy Anderson. First Edition, First Printing. As New (AN) condition (see description of terms). Accented in 24k gold, printed on archival paper with gilded edges. Smyth sewing and concealed muslin joints. Bound in full leather with hubbed spines and sewn-in satin ribbon book marks. Gilt textblooks and gilt tooling on the boards. Silk moire end papers - ribbon and silk colors match. Unopened and unread copies. If you need pictures of the inside front covers I can get them but I will not open the book fully to do so. . .it will make for awkward pictures. NOTES: (AN) - As New - unread, unused, clean and flawless copy. (F) - Fine - as close to As New condition except it mave have been previously opened or carefully read. (VG) - Very Good - shows signs of previous ownership and use, but still a nice copy. Flaws or defects (former owners name [FON] or former owners initials [FOI] should be noted). (G) - significant wear - tears in DJ, wear on the edges of DJ or boards as well as text block. All issues should be noted. (F) - Fair - noticeable wear. Some non-essential pages missing (front and rear endpapers). Smyth sewing - stiching groups of folded paper together with dinder thread. THe folded papers, called Signatures, are usually large sheets of pinted matter that are folded into groups of 8-32 pages. Each signature is sewn individually with multiple stiches down its length. THe signatures are then joined together to create a book block which is then glued to paper or hardcover case. Muslin joints - small groves that runs vertically down the book itself between the book boards (book cover) and the spine. It bends when the book is open. Only on hard cover books. Muslin cloth shrinks while drying so it molds itself to the board edges to make them sharp and defined. Franklin Library, the distribution arm of the Franklin Press, began publishing in 1973 and closed permanently in 2000. The 100 Greatest Books of All Time series, published between 1974 and 1982, is among the most collectible work from Franklin Library. The heavily illustrated collection features remarkable works by literature's most legendary writers. First copies as well as signed first copies published by Franklin Library are "limited" to an unstated number of copies. Franklin Library did not produce reprints and books were subscription only. This series is "The 100 Greatest Books of All Time". Almost all of their full leather series had ID blocks on one of their first few pages that identified the series. As an example, their series, The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, which ran from the beginning of the company in 1974 to 1983, had a series specific ID Blocks that read, "This limited edition of (title of the book) is published exclusively for subcribers to The Franklin Library collection The 100 Greatest Books of All Time". Their other series, The First Edition Society, which ran from 1976 to 1981, had an ID Block that read, "This limited first edition of (title of book) by (author of the book) has been privately printed exclusively for members of The First Edition Society".