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FAR FROM
THE
MADDING CROWD
Thomas Hardy
Copyright
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com
This eBook edition published in 2010
Life and Times section © HarperCollinsPublishers 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
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
