Description:

Thomas Hardy sends a close friend and neighbor a first edition of his final and most important novel Jude the Obscure

THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928) Autograph Letter Signed, "Thomas Hardy," 1 page, 4.5" x 3.5", "Max Gate: Dorchester," November 28, [n.y., but most likely 1895], to Mary Elizabeth Brinsley Sheridan. Light toning on verso from previous mounting, very light soiling, else very fine.

"I send herewith a little story of mine in Harper's [not present] – which I direct to Mr Sheridan, as I think it a tale which addresses itself rather to men than to women. The scene is not a hundred miles from Frampton."

The recipient, Mary Sheridan (d. 1918) was the wife of Algernon Thomas Brinsley Sheridan (1845-1931), a great-grandson of the noted 18th Century dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). Hardy described her as "An old friend," and recalled upon the occasion of her death, that she was "the first to call when we entered this house at Max Gate, and she remained staunch to the end of her days." (Florence Emily Hardy, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892-1928, 2011, 183). The Sheridans, at their country seat of Frampton Court in Dorset, entertained the likes of William Makepeace Thackeray, Mary Shelly, William Barnes, and other luminaries.

Although Hardy's letter is undated, we have determined that the "little story," could only be his final work of prose: Jude the Obscure. Several details within the letter offer clues to confirm this determination. The most obvious perhaps is when Hardy states that the story had appeared in "Harper's." The final serialized installment of Jude had appeared in the November 1895 issue of Harper's Monthly.

Jude the Obscure appeared in volume form at the start of November 1895 and its overt sexual references sparked an outcry in the press. On November 8, Hardy recorded in his journal ,"The Reviews begin to Howl at Jude." (At least one reviewer dubbed the novel, "Jude the Obscene.") Sensitive to his good friend's Victorian sensibilities, he recommended that she hand the volume to her husband, "as I think it a tale which addresses itself rather to men than to women.".(Millgate, The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy, 1984, 286-287; Broadview Press description of Watts, ed., Hardy, Jude the Obscure).

Another critical clue is Hardy's comment that the "The scene is not a hundred miles from Frampton." Much of the action in the novel takes place in Hardy's fictional college town of "Christminster," which he modelled on Oxford—located about 100 miles from Frampton in Dorset.

Hardy lived in Max Gate in Dorset from 1885 until his death and he authored only two other major works of prose there before abandoning it for poetry—largely due to Jude's hostile reception. The first, Tess d'Ubervilles, appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1878 under another title, and appeared under its final title in The Graphic (London) in 1891 and issued in book form the following year. Although it too challenged Victorian sexual norms, it did not elicit the virulent reaction that Jude provoked, nor did the novel take place "not a hundred miles from Frampton." The main setting for Tess is in the Vale of Blackmore, which lies only forty or fifty miles from Frampton. Similarly, The Mayor of Casterbridge,which appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1885, takes place even closer to Frampton, in Dorchester, Dorset — also the location of Hardy's home at Max Gate.

A superb note from Hardy with superb association sending along his most famous, and notorious, novels!

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