HARDY (THOMAS) Far From the Madding Crowd, 2 vol., FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 1000 COPIES, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1874[HARDY (THOMAS)]Far From the Madding Crowd, 2 vol., FIRST EDITION, [ONE OF 1000 COPIES], 12 wood-engraved plates by Helen Paterson (later Allingham), chocolate endpapers, occasional light spotting, ink marks on p.41 of volume 1, publisher's green diagonal fine-ribbed cloth gilt, vignettes stamped in black on upper covers, slight wear, with abrasion at lower spine of volume 1, hinge neatly strengthened with paper to match endpapers, preserved in box [Purdy, pp. 13-20; Sadleir, p.105], 8vo, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1874First edition of the first of Hardy's major novels. Far from the Madding Crowd was serialised in the The Cornhill Magazine between January and December 1874, and first published in book form as here in November 1874 priced 21s. in a print run of 1000 copies.Provenance: Paul Lemperly, bookplate; Brian Fenwick-Smith, bookplate; Sotheby's, 10 July 2012, lot 71.