Thomas Hardy - Far From the Madding Crowd

FAR FROM

THE

MADDING CROWD

Thomas Hardy

Copyright

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com

This eBook edition published in 2010

Life and Times section © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Gerard Cheshire asserts his moral right as author of the Life and Times section Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from Collins English Dictionary

Cover image © Trevillion Images

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007395163

Ebook Edition © 2010 ISBN: 9780007424818

Version: 2015-03-30

History of Collins

In 1819, millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books and prayer books. That company was Collins and was to mark the birth of HarperCollins Publishers as we know it today. The long tradition of Collins dictionary publishing can be traced back to the first dictionary William published in 1824, Greek and English Lexicon . Indeed, from 1840 onwards, he began to produce illustrated dictionaries and even obtained a licence to print and publish the Bible.

Soon after, William published the first Collins novel, Ready Reckoner , however it was the time of the Long Depression, where harvests were poor, prices were high, potato crops had failed and violence was erupting in Europe. As a result, many factories across the country were forced to close down and William chose to retire in 1846, partly due to the hardships he was facing.

Aged 30, William’s son, William II took over the business. A keen humanitarian with a warm heart and a generous spirit, William II was truly ‘Victorian’ in his outlook. He introduced new, up-to-date steam presses and published affordable editions of Shakespeare’s works and Pilgrim’s Progress , making them available to the masses for the first time. A new demand for educational books meant that success came with the publication of travel books, scientific books, encyclopaedias and dictionaries. This demand to be educated led to the later publication of atlases and Collins also held the monopoly on scripture writing at the time.

In the 1860s Collins began to expand and diversify and the idea of ‘books for the millions’ was developed. Affordable editions of classical literature were published and in 1903 Collins introduced 10 titles in their Collins Handy Illustrated Pocket Novels. These proved so popular that a few years later this had increased to an output of 50 volumes, selling nearly half a million in their year of publication. In the same year, The Everyman’s Library was also instituted, with the idea of publishing an affordable library of the most important classical works, biographies, religious and philosophical treatments, plays, poems, travel and adventure. This series eclipsed all competition at the time and the introduction of paperback books in the 1950s helped to open that market and marked a high point in the industry.

HarperCollins is and has always been a champion of the classics and the current Collins Classics series follows in this tradition – publishing classical literature that is affordable and available to all. Beautifully packaged, highly collectible and intended to be reread and enjoyed at every opportunity.

Contents

Cover

Title Page FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD Thomas Hardy

Copyright

History of Collins

General preface to the Wessex Edition of 1912

Chapter 1 - Description of Farmer Oak – An incident

Chapter 2 - Night – The flock – Interiors

Chapter 3 - A girl on horseback – Conversation

Chapter 4 - Gabriel’s resolve – The visit – The mistake

Chapter 5 - Departure of Bathsheba – A pastoral tragedy

Chapter 6 - The fair – The journey – The fire

Chapter 7 - Recognition – A timid girl

Chapter 8 - The malthouse – The chat – News

Chapter 9 - The homestead – A visitor – Half confidences

Chapter 10 - Mistress and men

Chapter 11 - Outside the barracks – Snow – A meeting

Chapter 12 - Farmers – A rule – An exception

Chapter 13 - Sortes sanctorum – The valentine

Chapter 14 - Effect of the letter – Sunrise

Chapter 15 - A morning meeting – The letter again

Chapter 16 - All Saints’ and All Souls’

Chapter 17 - In the market-place

Chapter 18 - Boldwood in meditation – Regret

Chapter 19 - The sheep-washing – The offer

Chapter 20 - Perplexity – Grinding the shears – A quarrel

Chapter 21 - Troubles in the fold – A message

Chapter 22 - The great barn and the sheep-shearers

Chapter 23 - Eventide – A second declaration

Chapter 24 - The same night – The fir plantation

Chapter 25 - The new acquaintance described

Chapter 26 - Scene on the verge of the hay-mead

Chapter 27 - Hiving the bees

Chapter 28 - The hollow amid the ferns

Chapter 29 - Particulars of a twilight walk

Chapter 30 - Hot cheeks and tearful eyes

Chapter 31 - Blame – Fury

Chapter 32 - Night – Horses tramping

Chapter 33 - In the sun – A harbinger

Chapter 34 - Home again – A trickster

Chapter 35 - At an upper window

Chapter 36 - Wealth in jeopardy – The revel

Chapter 37 - The storm – The two together

Chapter 38 - Rain – One solitary meets another

Chapter 39 - Coming home – A cry

Chapter 40 - On Casterbridge highway

Chapter 41 - Suspicion – Fanny is sent for

Chapter 42 - Joseph and his burden – Buck’s Head

Chapter 43 - Fanny’s revenge

Chapter 44 - Under a tree – Reaction

Chapter 45 - Troy’s romanticism

Chapter 46 - The gurgoyle: its doings

Chapter 47 - Adventures by the shore

Chapter 48 - Doubts arise – Doubts linger

Chapter 49 - Oak’s advancement – A great hope

Chapter 50 - The sheep fair – Troy touches his wife’s hand

Chapter 51 - Bathsheba talks with her outrider

Chapter 52 - Converging courses

Chapter 53 - Concurritur – Horae momento

Chapter 54 - After the shock

Chapter 55 - The March following – ‘Bathsheba Boldwood’

Chapter 56 - Beauty in loneliness – After all

Chapter 57 - A foggy night and morning – Conclusion

Classic Literature: Words and Phrases

Life & Times - About the Author

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General preface to the Wessex