FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. In Two Volumes. (First Edition in Original Cloth, the Celebrated Jerome Kern Copy Sold at Anderson Galleries in New York on January 10th, 1929) by Hardy, Thomas - 1874

London: Smith, Elder, 1874. Hardy, Thomas. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. In Two Volumes. Twelve wood-engraved Illustrations by Helen Paterson including frontispiece. London: Smith, Elder, 1874. FIRST BOOK EDITION published in November 1874, one of an edition of 1,000 copies. 8vo. This is the Jerome Kern copy (sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 1929) later acquired by famed New York City collector Charles Auchincloss (sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 1961), bookplates of both distinguished collectors in each volume, an ideal provenance. VERY GOOD INDEED in original publisher's green diagonal fine-ribbed cloth, lettered in bright gilt with two vignettes in black on upper covers, original chocolate endpapers. Volume One is mildly abraded at the top of the cloth spine; it also has a cracked front inner hinge and the outer hinge on the rear cover has a thin fingernail split. Volume Two has a spot of wear to one spine corner but is otherwise in excellent condition. For the Thomas Hardy collector, a sharp and fresh copy of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Hardy's first success and the seminal work which gave name to his fictional Wessex, is cause for celebration; it is nearly as hard to find in acceptable original condition as his notoriously rare anonymous first novel DESPERATE REMEDIES and remains, after nearly a century, the most desired and sought after first edition of all fourteen Hardy novels. There is only one recorded inscribed first edition of Far From The Madding Crowd and precious few auction records for copies of this quality. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Purdy pp. 13-18. Sadleir 1105.. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Very Good. Illus. by Helen Paterson (Allingham).