{"id":2323,"date":"2021-04-12T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2021-03-30T12:32:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T12:32:04","slug":"thomas-hardy-exploring-a-new-collection-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2021\/04\/12\/thomas-hardy-exploring-a-new-collection-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Hardy \u2013 exploring a new collection (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The purchase in December 2020 of a collection of important documents<\/span>\u00a0and printed books<\/span>\u00a0relating to Thomas Hardy was one of the highlights of last year \u2013 a year in which it was at times difficult to feel optimistic.\u00a0 In an\u00a0<\/span>earlier blog<\/span><\/a>, parts of the collection were described and we will now examine other items which cast light on Hardy and the context in which he wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0—<\/span><\/p>\n

The collection is decidedly eclectic which reflects the ad hoc manner in which<\/span>\u00a0its elements were<\/span>\u00a0gathered together<\/span>.\u00a0 Amongst these are<\/span>\u00a0a number of printed books, many of which are annotated by Hardy.\u00a0 One such is\u00a0<\/span>Trumpet and Bugle Sounds for Mounted Services<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>(1870)<\/span>\u2013 a rather specialist publication, but one that in a period that pre-dated Google, we assume Hardy would have consulted when writing\u00a0<\/span>The Trumpet Major<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Another printed item is Hardy\u2019s copy of\u00a0<\/span>A Village Tragedy<\/span><\/i>\u00a0by Margaret Woods (1889) described by Oscar Wilde as \u2018one of the most powerful and pathetic novels that has recently appeared\u2019<\/span>.\u00a0 With its rural setting and themes of doomed love, it is possible to see why Hardy may have been attracted to it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Another slightly (on the face of it) esoteric item found within the collection is A.M. Broadley\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale including Mrs Thrale\u2019s unpublished Journal of the Welsh Tour made in 177<\/span><\/i>4\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(1910)<\/span>.\u00a0 This was presented to Hardy by the author who was a significant figure in the\u00a0dramatisation\u00a0of Hardy\u2019s works for the stage by the Dorchester Dramatic and Debating Society; the inscription in the volume marked \u2018the memory of the last rehearsal of Far from the Madding Crowd\u2026Nov 21 1909\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>A well-used copy of Broadley and Bartelot\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Nelson\u2019s Hardy<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(1909) also forms part of the collection.\u00a0 The work<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0which focuses on Captain (later Admiral) Thomas Masterman Hardy of\u00a0Portesham\u00a0who commanded Nelson\u2019s flagship Victory at Trafalgar is dedicated to Thomas Hardy whose works <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018have done so much to awaken public interest in the stirring times during his gallant Dorset namesake fought for his country\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Richard Bartelot<\/span><\/a>\u00a0became Vicar of\u00a0Fordington\u00a0and was a notable antiquarian<\/span>\u00a0whose own library was sold in the 1950s.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Hardy was clearly the recipient of many books \u2013 presented to him as the \u2018great man of\u00a0letters\u2019.\u00a0 Another volume of this ilk is the copy of S. F. Pells\u2019\u00a0<\/span>Great Texts of the Bible<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(1911) which he offered to Hardy \u2018in commemoration of our respective birthdays 1840-1912\u2019.\u00a0 The volume appears to have come from the library of Richard Bartelot (see above) who himself acquired it from Hardy<\/span>.\u00a0 He noted:\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Thomas Hardy\u2019s Copy \u2013 Thomas Hardy was my parishioner at Dorchester 1906 till his death\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

A more notable author who presented their work to Hardy was Siegfried Sassoon who\u00a0<\/span>sent Hardy a copy (one of only 99 privately printed) of his\u00a0<\/span>Lingual Exercises for Advanced\u00a0Vocabularians<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(1925).\u00a0 Sassoon, clearly an admirer of Hardy wrote to Florence Hardy in an accompanying letter that <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I am immensely pleased that he likes the\u00a0poems\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is clear that many authors, aspiring and established sought Hardy\u2019s seal of approval on their work.\u00a0 The volumes within this collection are only a tiny part of Hardy\u2019s library, much of which was bequeathed to Dorset County Museum.\u00a0 The range of sources and subjects Hardy<\/span>\u00a0was exposed to<\/span>\u00a0was wide and varied.\u00a0 These items sit alongside the thousands of others at DHC written by or about Hardy<\/span>\u00a0and can be consulted when we re-open to the public.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The purchase in December 2020 of a collection of important documents\u00a0and printed books\u00a0relating to Thomas Hardy was one of the highlights of last year \u2013 a year in which it was at times difficult to feel optimistic.\u00a0 In an\u00a0earlier blog, parts of the collection were described and we will now examine other items which cast… Read more Thomas Hardy \u2013 exploring a new collection (part 2)<\/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":[10,7],"tags":[82,299,109,187],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323"}],"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=2323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2326,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions\/2326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}