# Is "Wessex Poems and Other Verses" by Thomas Hardy a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy (Harper & Brothers, London, 1898) is identified by: First edition limited to 500 copies, published in London by Harper & Brothers of 45 Albemarle Street in December 1898 — dealers record the week of 11 December. UK precedes US, despite a shared imprint that invites error.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition limited to 500 copies, published in London by Harper & Brothers of 45 Albemarle Street in December 1898 — dealers record the week of 11 December
- Crown octavo (roughly 200 x 131 mm), xi, [1], 228 pages
- Publisher's original green ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt, a gilt medallion enclosing Hardy's TH monogram on the upper cover, top edge gilt, other edges uncut
- Illustrated from Hardy's own drawings, including full-page plates and a frontispiece; sources consulted count them as either 30 or 31, so treat the exact number as unsettled
- Hardy's preface notes the drawings were made recently rather than at the time the poems were written
- No printing statement and no number line
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Hardy |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers, London |
| Year | 1898 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First edition limited to 500 copies, published in London by Harper & Brothers of 45 Albemarle Street in December 1898 — dealers record the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition limited to 500 copies, published in London by Harper & Brothers of 45 Albemarle Street in December 1898 — dealers record the week of 11 December. Crown octavo (roughly 200 x 131 mm), xi, [1], 228 pages. Publisher's original green ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt, a gilt medallion enclosing Hardy's TH monogram on the upper cover, top edge gilt, other edges uncut. Illustrated from Hardy's own drawings, including full-page plates and a frontispiece; sources consulted count them as either 30 or 31, so treat the exact number as unsettled. Hardy's preface notes the drawings were made recently rather than at the time the poems were written. No printing statement and no number line. Standard reference: Purdy, pp. 96–106; also Hayward 310 and Wolff 2998.

## Is this the true first?
UK precedes US, despite a shared imprint that invites error. Harper & Brothers ran both a London and a New York house and the title pages name both cities, so the imprint alone will not separate the editions. The London edition dated 1898, limited to 500 copies, is the true first. The first American edition is dated 1899, bound in light green cloth with pictorial decoration in colours, and followed roughly six weeks after the London book from New York (Purdy p. 106); the number of American copies is not recorded. The title-page date — 1898 against 1899 — is the working discriminator. This was Hardy's first collection of verse and marks his turn from fiction to poetry; his novels are separately collected and share none of these points.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition — the book predates book-club publishing. The reprint tell that matters concerns the illustrations: Hardy's drawings were dropped when Wessex Poems was next reprinted in 1912, so any copy of this title lacking the author's illustrations is a later edition. A copy dated 1899 is the American edition, not a second state or later issue of the London first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Wessex Poems and Other Verses* by Thomas Hardy a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/wessex-poems-and-other-verses
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.