# Is "The Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (Smith, Elder & Co., 1878) is identified by: Three volumes, Smith, Elder & Co., London, dated 1878 (first edition in book form, about 1,000 copies). The UK Smith, Elder 1878 three-decker is the true first; the US Harper edition is secondary.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Three volumes, Smith, Elder & Co., London, dated 1878 (first edition in book form, about 1,000 copies)
- The decisive first-issue point is on the Volume I title-page: the closing single quotation mark after 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' (in the list of the author's works) is absent in the first issue
- The folding 'Sketch Map of the Scene of the Story' by Hardy is present as a frontispiece in Volume I and should be present, but its presence alone is not the distinguishing point
- Original cloth; half-titles
- Publisher imprint reads Smith, Elder & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Hardy |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder & Co. |
| Year | 1878 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Three volumes, Smith, Elder & Co., London, dated 1878 (first edition in book form, about 1,000 copies) |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Three volumes, Smith, Elder & Co., London, dated 1878 (first edition in book form, about 1,000 copies). The decisive first-issue point is on the Volume I title-page: the closing single quotation mark after 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' (in the list of the author's works) is absent in the first issue. The folding 'Sketch Map of the Scene of the Story' by Hardy is present as a frontispiece in Volume I and should be present, but its presence alone is not the distinguishing point. Original cloth; half-titles.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Smith, Elder 1878 three-decker is the true first; the US Harper edition is secondary. The Volume I title-page lacking the closing quotation mark after 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' is the recognized first-issue point.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
One-volume editions and later reprints are not the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Return of the Native* by Thomas Hardy a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-return-of-the-native
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.