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HARDY, Thomas.
The Trumpet Major. A tale.
First edition in book form of Hardy's great novel of the Napoleonic war, written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Trafalgar. Purdy notes that the novel was published "in an edition of 1000 copies" and remarks that the three-line border "is less common than the 2-rule binding". The story was first published in slightly bowdlerized form in Good Words, Jan–Dec 1880, with the book edition published on 26 October 1880.
3 volumes, octavo. Original red diagonal-fine-ribbed cloth, front covers with pictorial design in black (encampment and mill, from a drawing by the author) and lettered in black, back covers blocked in blind with 3-rule border, spines gilt and black with design of standard, sword and bugle, cream endpapers: Purdy's secondary binding. Housed in a red cloth slipcase. Bookplates of Charles J. Rosenbloom. Head and foot of spines slightly bumped, hint of superficial rubbing at foot, slight spotting, embossed W.H. Smith library stamp to front free endpaper in volume one, splitting to some hinges, still an excellent copy, the cloth clean and fresh.
