HARDY (THOMAS) Tess of the D'Urbervilles. A Pure Woman, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, James Osgood, MacIlvaine & Co., 1891HARDY (THOMAS)Tess of the D'Urbervilles. A Pure Woman, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, light toning to half-titles, publisher's smooth tan cloth lettered in gilt on spines, with gilt-blocked design of honeysuckle blossoms by Charles Ricketts on upper covers, spine ends slightly rubbed, one small damp spot on upper cover of volume 3 but generally a bright set, preserved in morocco-backed solander box (rubbed, stained at lower spine) [Purdy, pp.67-78; Sadleir 1114; Wolff 2993], 8vo, James Osgood, MacIlvaine & Co., 1891A fine copy of the first edition of Thomas Hardy's most enduringly popular novel Tess, with an interesting assocation inscription.Provenance: Charles Ricketts, with gift inscription ("To Rylis/C.S. Ricketts") to Edith Hacon on the front free endpaper. Edith, always known as Amaryllis or 'Ryllis' was an artist's model prior to becoming the wife of William Llewellyn Hacon (1860-1910) who, together with Ricketts founded the Vale Press. Ricketts designed the distinctive binding of Tess, "...different from almost all previously published books by Thomas Hardy, or, for that matter, by any other author. These books were obviously designed by someone with a genius for artistic lay-out, by someone with taste and originality" (Carl J. Weber, Charles Ricketts and His Books, in Colby Library Quarterly, Series III, no. 4, 1951); Sotheby's, 11 July 2017, lot 116.