Jude the Obscure. A Letter and a Foreword

Lakewood, OH: Printed for Private Circulation, 1917. First edition. One of 27 copies printed by Paul Lemberly. The foreword is by Clement Shorter. Hardy's reply to Miss Jeannette Gilder, an American who wrote a nasty review of Jude the Obscure for the New York World in December 1895, declines to be interviewed on the subject of the novel. Miss Gilder, who was in England at the time this letter was written in July 1896, asked to meet Hardy, and professed her admiration for his work and claimed that "my review of Jude was written in no unfriendly spirit." The pamphlet prints Miss Gilder's letter and Hardy's extraordinarily gracious reply. After the adverse and obtuse reception that the novel received, Hardy abandoned fiction entirely and turned his creative energy to poetry for the rest of his life. Presentation copy, inscribed on the first blank page to the noted collector and bibliophile Charles Dexter Allen: "To Charles Dexter Allen with regards of Paul Lemperly. Laid in a letter from the bookseller James F. Drake, dated April 24, 1917, thanking Allen for lending him the pamphlet to read. Drake comments that "It seems to me, however, that it was a mistake not to include Miss Gilder's criticism. A contemporaneous typescript of Miss Gilder's review is included, perhaps having been provided by Drake, or Allen, at the time. A very fine copy.. 8vo, original printed wrappers. A contemporaneous typescript of Miss Gilder's review is included, perhaps having been provided by Drake, or Allen, at the time. A very fine copy.