London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1880. First edition. First edition in book form, one of 1,000 sets produced, rare in such fresh examples of the original cloth illustrated from Hardy's own drawings. Of the edition, 600 sets were issued with two blind rules on the rear covers; 150 in the present three-rule binding were issued not long thereafter; and the final 250 unbound sheets were issued two years later.

3 volumes, octavo. Original red diagonal-fine-ribbed cloth, spines lettered on gilt ground and stamped in gilt and black with design of the standard, sword, and bugle, front covers lettered in black with pictorial design of an encampment and mill from a drawing by the author, rear covers with triple blind rules, cream endpapers. Cloth and gilt bright, minor bumps to spine ends, vol. II rear inner hinge cracked but holding, contents fresh. Housed in a custom green cloth folding box. A near-fine set.

Set during the Napoleonic war, the author's sole historical novel was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Trafalgar and incorporates comic elements to move away from its darker predecessor, The Return of the Native (1878). The Trumpet-Major was published on 26 October before the conclusion of the slightly bowdlerized serial in Good Words, which ran from January to December 1880. It was a triumphant success with the critics, though inadequate public appetite led to remaindering.

This set is from the library of the famous American book collector A. Edward Newton (1864-1940), author of Amenities of Book Collecting (1918) and a driving force in the campaign to establish the American Memorial to Thomas Hardy near the writer's birthplace in Higher Bockhampton. Newton wrote Thomas Hardy, Novelist Or Poet? (1929) to raise funds for the monument and he then published A Thomas Hardy Memorial (1931) to celebrate its construction. Newton's sale took place at Parke-Bernet in 1941; this set has his engraved bookplate, dated 1909, on the front pastedowns.

Purdy, pp. 31-5; Sadleir 1115; Woolf 2995. Near Fine (Item #5640)