# Is "The Trumpet-Major" by Thomas Hardy a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy (Smith, Elder & Co., 1880) is identified by: First published in three volumes by Smith, Elder & Co. The Good Words serialization (January-December 1880) was edited by Donald Macleod to remove content he judged unsuitable for the magazine's family readership; Hardy restored this material for the three-volume Smith, Elder & Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First published in three volumes by Smith, Elder & Co. on 26 October 1880, in an edition of 1,000 sets, following serialization in Good Words
- The primary first-issue binding (600 of the sets) is red diagonal-fine-ribbed cloth, front cover stamped in black with a three-panel design showing an encampment vignette above and a mill vignette below (both drawn by Hardy himself), the rear cover stamped in blind with a double-rule border, and the imprint 'Smith, Elder & Co.' at the foot of the spine
- A secondary binding of about 150 sets issued shortly afterward has a triple-rule blind border on the rear cover instead of double; roughly 250 further sets of sheets went unbound for about two years before being cased up later
- Volumes I and II lack a preliminary blank leaf
- Publisher imprint reads Smith, Elder & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Hardy |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder & Co. |
| Year | 1880 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First published in three volumes by Smith, Elder & Co. on 26 October 1880, in an edition of 1,000 sets, following serialization in Good… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First published in three volumes by Smith, Elder & Co. on 26 October 1880, in an edition of 1,000 sets, following serialization in Good Words. The primary first-issue binding (600 of the sets) is red diagonal-fine-ribbed cloth, front cover stamped in black with a three-panel design showing an encampment vignette above and a mill vignette below (both drawn by Hardy himself), the rear cover stamped in blind with a double-rule border, and the imprint 'Smith, Elder & Co.' at the foot of the spine. A secondary binding of about 150 sets issued shortly afterward has a triple-rule blind border on the rear cover instead of double; roughly 250 further sets of sheets went unbound for about two years before being cased up later. Volumes I and II lack a preliminary blank leaf.

## Is this the true first?
The Good Words serialization (January-December 1880) was edited by Donald Macleod to remove content he judged unsuitable for the magazine's family readership; Hardy restored this material for the three-volume Smith, Elder & Co. book edition, so the October 1880 book text -- not the magazine text -- represents Hardy's fuller version of the novel.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The three-volume first edition was followed by a one-volume 'New Edition' reprinted through the 1880s and 1890s; Hardy added a new preface addressing plagiarism accusations about his source material to an 1895 one-volume printing. These later one-volume reprints do not carry the three-volume first edition's binding-state points (the two-rule and three-rule rear-cover variants).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Trumpet-Major* by Thomas Hardy a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-trumpet-major
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.