Included in this edition are ten stories, varying in length from sketch to novella, which were never collected into volumes during Hardy's lifetime. Some contained references to actual people, or plot elements that he reused elsewhere; others, such as his only stories for children, were simply too different from his other work in the short-story form; the longest, `An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress', was apparently left uncollected to allow for a possible
reconstruction of the `lost' novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, from which it was drawn. The three final stories resulted from literary collaborations which were also emotional involvements, with
Florence Henniker in `The Spectre of the Real', and with Florence Dugdale, later the second Mrs Hardy, in `Blue Jimmy: The Horse Stealer' and `The Unconquerable' (now published for the first time). Although all of these stories occupy significant positions within Hardy's career as a writer of fiction - extending that career, indeed, both earlier and later than the standard account would allow - none of them has previously received serious editorial treatment. For the
most part they have also been ignored or lightly passed over by critics and biographers, and such discussion as they have aroused has frequently been based on false assumptions. This edition remedies some
of these deficiencies in Hardy scholarship, both in its historical introductions and in its critically edited texts, which are based on full collations of all editions published before Hardy's death and all surviving manuscripts, typescripts, and proofs (many of which have gone almost entirely unexamined in the past). Complete lists of the variants in these pre-publication witnesses and in all authorially authorized printings supplement the edited texts.
Industry Reviews
'this book's main virtue resides in its bringing together a group of Hardy's stories that heretofore Hardy scholars have virtually ignored ... it can help most university libraries complete their Hardy canons'
J. Combs, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Choice, May '93
'Ten stories that were not included in collected editions or volumes published in Hardy's lifetime are here brought together with overwhelming scholarly and editorial detail and apparatus, eclipsing almost anything available on the great Hardy novels. Perhaps it will set an example.'
Nineteenth-Century Literature 48:1 (June 1993)
'carefully produced work ... Such fastidious and exhaustive scholarship bears clearly the imprint of Pamela Dalziel's D.Phil. thesis.'
Alexander M. Ross, University of Guelph, Victorian Studies Association Newsletter, Fall 1993
'No forgotten masterpieces here, but all are pleasant to read and well up to the standard of an 'average' Hardy story. Pamela Dalziel has worked hard to place them in their context.'
Merryn Williams, Notes and Queries, Vol. 41, No. 1, Mar '94
'Dalziel has omitted nothing relevant that I know of, and has added much that I did not know; her research is a model of exhaustive accuracy and incisive perception. The apparatus associated with each text is scrupulously accurate, ... all an editor has to do is to keep a sharp eye out for likely errors. Dalziel is clear-sighted and knowledgeable in this as in other respects: This edition ends by providing much more pleasure and instruction than it
promised. The stories themselves are enhanced by the wealth of information Dalziel brings to bear on them, and by the affectionate care that she has expended in presenting them to us in the most satisfying
form.'
Canadian Historical Review
`The editor, Pamela Dalziel, is a model of diligence and we must be grateful for the authorative text which has been establidhed. She follows every evenue in providing interesting background sources and is especially good in disentangling authorship within the collaborative stories.'
Review of English Studies
