THE DYNASTS (All 3 Volumes in Original Dust Jackets, EARLIEST ISSUE with integral 1903 Title Page in Volume One) by Hardy, Thomas - 1903

London: Macmillan, 1903 Hardy, Thomas. THE DYNASTS: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars, In Three Parts, Nineteen Acts, & One Hundred and Thirty Scenes. London: Macmillan, 1903-1906-1908. Three volumes. First Edition in publisher's original green cloth. First issue of Volume One (1903 title page integral, only 103 copies at most printed, expert repair to front inner hinge), first British issue of Volume Two (title page a cancel as found in all British first editions; some 1905 titles were found among the American issue), First Issue of Volume Three. Very Good copies (a little worn at the edges) in Very Good examples of ALL THREE ORIGINAL DUST JACKETS (some light restoration to corners and spines). Very rare in the original dust jackets and as nice a set of the first issue as we've seen. Hardy's interest in The Napoleonic Wars was most famously expressed in his 1880 novel THE TRUMPET MAJOR but also found expression in his poetry and here in his Magnum Opus, THE DYNASTS, which took him several decades of hard work to bring to fruition. THE DYNASTS is little read today but contains the best and most complete insight into of Hardy's world-view (as hinted at in the last line of TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES when he invokes The President Of The Immortals as having finished his sport with Tess). Bookplate of a distinguished previous owner on front paste-down all three volumes. Purdy pp. 119-135.