Folio Archives 457: The Trumpet Major by Thomas Hardy 1990
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1wcarter
The Trumpet Major; John Loveday, A Soldier in the War with Buonaparte and Robert, His Brother by Thomas Hardy 1990
Between 1968 and 1993 the Folio Society published 18 of Thomas Hardy’s novels and stories in a similar format. These were reprinted many times and sometimes combined in multi-volume sets. Collectively known as the Wessex Novels the book titles were:-
A Changed Man
A Group Of Noble Dames
A Laodicean
A Pair Of Blue Eyes
Desperate Remedies
Far From The Madding Crowd
Jude The Obscure
Life’s Little Ironies
Selected Poems
Tess Of The d’Urbervilles
The Hand Of Ethelberta
The Mayor Of Casterbridge
The Return Of The Native
The Trumpet–Major
The Woodlanders
Two On A Tower
Under The Greenwood Tree/The Well Beloved
Wessex Tales (short stories).
The full series is pictured below.
And showing a few to demonstrate the identical cover style of all the books in the series.
The Trumpet Major has been chosen for review as a sample of the books in the series. It was written in 1880, but the novel is set in the years around 1803-1806.
The story revolves around young Anne Lovelace, the daughter of a respectable widow in straightened circumstances, who is wooed by two brothers (one a trumpet major and the other a naval captain), and the obnoxious nephew of a wealthy neighbour.
The intricacies of these three romances are set on the background of the imminent invasion of England by Napoleon. Anne lives in southwest England close to the coast and her village is filled with soldiers ready to fend off the French invasion, and the area is frequently visited by the king and other dignitaries.
It is an easy read, a well written novel, but rather descriptively verbose, as were most novels of the era. The intricacies of courtship, friendships, relationships and family responsibilities set amongst the complexities of military manoeuvres makes for interesting reading.
The xvi+314 page book is introduced by Paul I. Webb and there are twenty integrated woodcut engravings by Peter Reddick. The book is bound in the same style as the other 17 in the series, but each book is a different colour. The Trumpet Major is in full red cloth decorated in dark red on cover with a debossed Celtic image. The page tops are stained red. It has map endleaves showing the imaginary county of Wessex (the area of Devon and Somerset) printed black on grey. The orange-pink slipcase measures 23.6x15.4cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Between 1968 and 1993 the Folio Society published 18 of Thomas Hardy’s novels and stories in a similar format. These were reprinted many times and sometimes combined in multi-volume sets. Collectively known as the Wessex Novels the book titles were:-
A Changed Man
A Group Of Noble Dames
A Laodicean
A Pair Of Blue Eyes
Desperate Remedies
Far From The Madding Crowd
Jude The Obscure
Life’s Little Ironies
Selected Poems
Tess Of The d’Urbervilles
The Hand Of Ethelberta
The Mayor Of Casterbridge
The Return Of The Native
The Trumpet–Major
The Woodlanders
Two On A Tower
Under The Greenwood Tree/The Well Beloved
Wessex Tales (short stories).
The full series is pictured below.
And showing a few to demonstrate the identical cover style of all the books in the series.
The Trumpet Major has been chosen for review as a sample of the books in the series. It was written in 1880, but the novel is set in the years around 1803-1806.
The story revolves around young Anne Lovelace, the daughter of a respectable widow in straightened circumstances, who is wooed by two brothers (one a trumpet major and the other a naval captain), and the obnoxious nephew of a wealthy neighbour.
The intricacies of these three romances are set on the background of the imminent invasion of England by Napoleon. Anne lives in southwest England close to the coast and her village is filled with soldiers ready to fend off the French invasion, and the area is frequently visited by the king and other dignitaries.
It is an easy read, a well written novel, but rather descriptively verbose, as were most novels of the era. The intricacies of courtship, friendships, relationships and family responsibilities set amongst the complexities of military manoeuvres makes for interesting reading.
The xvi+314 page book is introduced by Paul I. Webb and there are twenty integrated woodcut engravings by Peter Reddick. The book is bound in the same style as the other 17 in the series, but each book is a different colour. The Trumpet Major is in full red cloth decorated in dark red on cover with a debossed Celtic image. The page tops are stained red. It has map endleaves showing the imaginary county of Wessex (the area of Devon and Somerset) printed black on grey. The orange-pink slipcase measures 23.6x15.4cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2TonjaE
>1 wcarter: I'm familiar with the six book set, I see it around a bit and I have it myself along with his Folio book of poems, but I wasn't aware of the other novels that have been published by FS. I really enjoy the woodcut illustrations. Wonderful! Something else to hunt for, thank you for sharing.
