A Pair of Blue Eyes - UK 1st
1873
$2,712.00
Thomas Hardy - A Pair of Blue Eyes published by Tinsley Brothers in 1873
First edition first impression, consisting of three volumes. 303, 311 and 262 pages respectively.
In late-Victorian Zaehnsdorf green half-calf bindings, with patterned green paper covered boards, gilt to the top edges of the text blocks and marbled endpapers front and rear. All three volumes retain their half-titles. the books are firmly bound, there is some scuffing and chipping to both boards and leather, there is foxing to pages (moreso to front and rear pages than to text pages)
About
Hardy's third novel and the first to be published under his own name; a haunting work with autobiographical elements and a splendidly evoked Cornish setting which adds much to the drama, perhaps most notably when the heroine removes her undergarments to fashion a rope in order to rescue her lover who has fallen from a cliff-top. A scene which apparently caused the phrase cliffhanger to be coined, as when the novel was originally serialised Hardy left the hero dangling for a week to tantalise his readers.
