{"id":2206,"date":"2021-02-05T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T09:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2206"},"modified":"2021-08-27T11:01:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T11:01:31","slug":"thomas-hardy-exploring-a-new-collection-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2021\/02\/05\/thomas-hardy-exploring-a-new-collection-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Hardy \u2013 exploring a new collection (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to the generosity of donors including the V&A purchase fund<\/a> and the Friends of the National Libraries<\/a> , DHC<\/span>\u00a0was fortunate enough to acquire a substantial new\u00a0<\/span>collection of material\u00a0<\/span>created by<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>or relating to\u00a0<\/span>Dorset\u2019s literary\u00a0<\/span>titan\u00a0<\/span>Thomas Hardy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We thought that it would be good to share a little more information about the\u00a0<\/span>purchase<\/span>\u00a0and to explain a little more about why we were so keen acquire it<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The collection is a real miscellany \u2013 in many ways, not an \u2018archive\u2019 in the true sense of the word \u2013 i.e. a group of records all\u00a0<\/span>generated by the same source \u2013 but a grouping of materials instead whose common subject or theme gives them their\u00a0<\/span>sense of identity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We look forward to being able to\u00a0<\/span>open our doors to researchers and scholars to peruse the material as soon as is possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>first element of the collection is a section of material that belonged to Hardy and his siblings in their formative years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Hardy\u2019s sister Katherine or\u00a0<\/span>Kate (1856-1940) trained to be a teacher<\/span>\u00a0at Salisbury<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>later taught at Dorchester\u00a0<\/span>Girls\u2019 School.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0<\/span>Manual of English History<\/span><\/i>\u00a0belonging to Kate<\/span>\u00a0is heavily annotated<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>was clearly heavily used as part of the teacher training process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It is thought that the college Kate attended\u00a0<\/span>appears in fictionalised form in\u00a0<\/span>Jude the Obscure<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Another item from the collection is\u00a0<\/span>Hardy\u2019s brother Henry\u2019s arithmetic book \u2013 clearly marked on the inside cover \u2018H. Hardy, Sep. 1866\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Henry<\/span>, born in 1851 followed his father into the building trade<\/span>\u00a0and was said to have spoken\u00a0<\/span>in the Dorset dialect.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The third and most significant item<\/span>\u00a0within this grouping of student\u00a0<\/span>volumes is Hardy\u2019s own copy of\u00a0<\/span>Roman poet<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Horace.\u00a0 This volume has been handsomely re-bound<\/span>\u00a0and inscribed \u2018<\/span>Tho<\/span>. Hardy\u00a0<\/span>1860\u2019 suggesting that he is likely to have owned the volume from the age of 20.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Hardy appears to have been greatly taken with Horace\u2019s work and this volume has 49 separate annotations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Most notably,\u00a0<\/span>he underlines text on page 324 of the volume.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This in translation reads<\/span><\/p>\n

The fight begins: on the instant comes swift death or\u00a0<\/span>joyous victory<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The words were used as the title of chapter 53 of <\/span>Far from the Madding Crowd<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We know that this volume last changed hands at Sotheby<\/span>\u2019s in 2001<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It is pleasing therefore to report that a<\/span>s a result of its acquisition by DHC it will now remain permanently within the public collection.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span>nother\u00a0<\/span>really significant<\/span>\u00a0item within the collection is Hardy\u2019s own copy of John\u00a0<\/span>Pouncy\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Dorsetshire Photographically Illustrated.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Pounc<\/span>y<\/span>\u00a0(1818-1894) pioneered the development of photographic printing\u00a0<\/span>and the two-volume set contains 78\u00a0<\/span>photolithograpic<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>plates<\/span>, many of them relating to sites and landscapes featured in Hardy\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0novels<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>The images within the set act as an important<\/span>\u00a0topographical reference source for anyone investigating Hardy\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0fictional<\/span>\u00a0Wessex and the\u00a0<\/span>real places and\u00a0<\/span>locations<\/span>\u00a0he based it on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We will bring you more insights into this fascinating new acquisition<\/span>\u00a0in the forthcoming months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Editors note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Hardy had toured Dorset with John Pouncy. We have removed the incorrect information from this piece.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to the generosity of donors including the V&A purchase fund and the Friends of the National Libraries , DHC\u00a0was fortunate enough to acquire a substantial new\u00a0collection of material\u00a0created by\u00a0or relating to\u00a0Dorset\u2019s literary\u00a0titan\u00a0Thomas Hardy.\u00a0\u00a0We thought that it would be good to share a little more information about the\u00a0purchase\u00a0and to explain a little more about why… Read more Thomas Hardy \u2013 exploring a new collection (part 1)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[82,271,270,109,187],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2594,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions\/2594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}