HARDY (THOMAS) The Dynasts. A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars, in Three Acts, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of volume 1 and 3, Macmillan, 1903-1908HARDY (THOMAS)The Dynasts. A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars, in Three Acts, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of volume 1 and 3, the usual second state of volume 2 (with cancel title), half-titles, publisher's green cloth, publisher's decorated "TH" monogram to upper covers, spines lettered in gilt, light fading to spines with ends slightly rubbed [Purdy, pp.119-135], 8vo, Macmillan, 1903-1908George Orwell, writing during the midst of the Second World War, noted that in this narrative of the Napoleonic wars Hardy "set free his genius" to write a "grandiose and rather evil vision of armies marching and counter-marching through the mists, and men dying by hundreds of thousands in the Russian snows, and all for absolutely nothing" (Tribune, September 18, 1942).Provenance: "Presentation Copy" circular blind-stamp on titles, with publisher's "Review Slip" (noting price 4/6 net) loosely inserted; Riley, ink inscription inside upper cover of volumes 2 and 3; Bonhams, 5 December 2019, lot 212.