Description

Easton Press leather edition of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D' Urb ervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented," Illustrated with Wood Engravings by Agnes Miller Parker, Dssigned by John Dreyfus, Introduction by Robert Cantwell, a COLLECTOR'S edition, one of the LIBRARY OF FAMOUS EDITION series, published in 2005. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has camel tan French moire silk end leaves, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine, satin book marker, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition. Thomas Hardy, who lived from 1840-1928, was an English novelist. Hardy--- who always fought hard against pressure to conform to Victorian standards--- was attacked for his sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen" woman. The novel was rejected for serialization because of "improper explicitness," and Hardy was forced to excise certain passages before the novel was published. The young heroine of Hardy's novel of 1891 even resembles her author in coming from an ancient Dorsetshire family, in her charity, and in her feeling for music. Tess is the daughter of a poor, foolish villager of Blackmoor Vale, whose head is turned by learning that he is a descendant of the ancient family of D'Urbervilles. Tess is seduced by ALEC d'Urberville, a young man of means whose parents object to his marrying Tess. Tess gives birth to a child, which dies in infancy. Sometime later, while working as a dairymaid on a large farm, Tess becomes engaged to ANGEL CLARE, a clergyman's son. On their wedding night, Tess confesses to him the affair of Alec and Angel abandons her. Ultimately, Tess is again seduced by Alec, who has become a clergyman, but the second time Tess gets her revenge. . . 448 pages----a RARE title. I offer Combined shipping.