THE DYNASTS by HARDY, THOMAS - 1927

London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1927. ONE OF 525 COPIES PRINTED ON LARGE PAPER, SIGNED BY HARDY. 280 x 190 mm. (11 x 7 1/2"). Three volumes. ONE OF 525 COPIES PRINTED ON LARGE PAPER, SIGNED BY HARDY. Original vellum-backed patterned boards, flat spine, gilt titling, edges untrimmed. Engraved frontispiece portrait, signed in pencil by Francis Dodd. Printed in red and black. A couple of corners slightly bumped and rubbed, otherwise a very fine copy inside and out, the spines unusually clean and bright. This is an attractive edition of a work that, according to Day, "ranks with Milton's "Samson Agonsites" and Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" as one of the monumental closet dramas in English. As the subtitle indicates, this work, first published from 1903-08, is "an epic-drama of the War with Napoleon, in three parts, 19 acts, and 130 scenes, the time covered by the action being about 10 years." The career of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is divided almost neatly into halves, as, roughly speaking, he published novels during the final quarter of the 19th century and poetry during the first quarter of the 20th. While Hardy is best remembered for his sweeping, tragic novels "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," "Jude the Obscure," and "Return of the Native," Day says that modern critics rate his "verse as equal in importance with his novels." Hardy himself testified that he considered himself first and foremost to be a poet and someone who wrote fiction largely to make money. Though this title appears in the marketplace with some frequency it is becoming increasingly difficult to find this set in fine condition.