Vintage Book. Harper's Modern Classics edition of the novel by Thomas Hardy entitled Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman. 457 pages in red cloth fabric hard binding.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891, then in book form in three volumes in 1891, and as a single volume in 1892. Although now considered a major novel of the 19th century, Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.
The novel is set in an impoverished rural England, Thomas Hardy's fictional Wessex.
Tess Durbeyfield, a country girl of 16, is the eldest child of John Durbeyfield, a haggler, and his wife Joan. When the local parson tells John that "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville" and that he is descended from an ancient Norman family, John celebrates by getting drunk. Tess drives to market in her father's place, but falls asleep at the reins; the wagon crashes and the family's only horse is killed. Feeling guilty, she agrees to visit Mrs. d'Urberville, a rich widow, to "claim kin", unaware that the widow's late husband Simon Stoke had adopted the surname to distance himself from his tradesman's roots.
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Alec d'Urberville, the son, is attracted to Tess and finds her a job as his mother's poultry keeper. Tess resists Alec's manipulative attentions. One night, on the pretense of rescuing her from a fight, Alec takes her on his horse to a remote spot, and it is implied that he rapes her.
Thomas Hardy was born in a cottage in Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester, on 2 June 1840. He was educated locally and at sixteen was articled to a Dorchester architect, John Hicks. In 1862 he moved to London and found employment with another architect, Arthur Blomfield. He now began to write poetry and published an essay. By 1867 he had returned to Dorset to work as Hicks's assistant and began his first (unpublished) novel, The Poor Man and the Lady.
