A Pair of Blue Eyes – Thomas Hardy

Second-Hand – The New Wessex Edition

Product Overview

First published in 1873, Thomas Hardy’s A Pair of Blue Eyes is a poignant early work filled with passion, class tension, and self-discovery. When architect’s clerk Stephen Smith travels from London to a Cornish village for work, he falls in love with Elfride Swancourt, a charming but conflicted young woman. Their courtship soon becomes entangled in questions of social rank, pride, and loyalty — and the arrival of a rival suitor, the worldly Henry Knight, further complicates their fragile romance.

Hardy’s evocative prose captures the rugged Cornish coast and the emotional turbulence of forbidden love, while also offering glimpses of the autobiographical roots of his own first courtship.

Condition (Second-Hand)

• Condition: Good

• Slight yellowing and age wear on cover and edges

• Tight binding, clean pages

• Minor scuffing from shelf storage

📖 A gently aged vintage paperback in good condition — ideal for Hardy enthusiasts and collectors of classic literature.

Details

• Author: Thomas Hardy

• Publisher: The New Wessex Edition

• ISBN: 0333413075

• Format: Paperback

• Language: English

• Genre: Classic Fiction / Romance / Victorian Literature

• Cover Illustration: © Gordon Beningfield (specially commissioned for this series)

Summary

Both a tender love story and a study of ambition and constraint, A Pair of Blue Eyes explores themes of class, morality, and human weakness. Hardy’s lyrical depiction of the Cornish landscape and emotional depth make this a beautifully introspective and unforgettable novel.