JAMES GIBSON is semi-retired but still lecturing, writing and chairing The Hardy Society. He was Head of the Department of English at Dulwich College (1949-1962) and Christ Church College, Canterbury (1962-1982). He is Honorary Vice President and Chairman of the Hardy Society and Honorary Vice President of the Betjeman Society. He was presented by fellow Hardy scholars with festschrift 1994. He is the editor of The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy, and the Variorum edition of that work, and of all Hardy's major novels. His acclaimed Literary Life of Hardy was published by Macmillan in 1996.

'...a wealth of materials gathered from a very broad range of writers who had contact wth Hardy...' - Years Work in English Studies 'An absorbing collection...meticulously compiled.' - John Bayley, Times Literary Supplement 'James Gibson has edited a fascinating collection of the reminiscences of those who knew, or professed to know, Thomas Hardy.' - Raymond Carr, The Spectator

• Acknowledgements Introduction The First Thirty Years: 1840-1870 The Nine Years: 1871-1879 The Ten Years: 1880-1889 The Ten Years: 1890-1899 The Final Years: 1900-1928

JAMES GIBSON is semi-retired but still lecturing, writing and chairing The Hardy Society. He was Head of the Department of English at Dulwich College (1949-1962) and Christ Church College, Canterbury (1962-1982). He is Honorary Vice President and Chairman of the Hardy Society and Honorary Vice President of the Betjeman Society. He was presented by fellow Hardy scholars with festschrift 1994. He is the editor of The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy, and the Variorum edition of that work, and of all Hardy's major novels. His acclaimed Literary Life of Hardy was published by Macmillan in 1996.

'...a wealth of materials gathered from a very broad range of writers who had contact wth Hardy...' - Years Work in English Studies 'An absorbing collection...meticulously compiled.' - John Bayley, Times Literary Supplement 'James Gibson has edited a fascinating collection of the reminiscences of those who knew, or professed to know, Thomas Hardy.' - Raymond Carr, The Spectator

• Acknowledgements Introduction The First Thirty Years: 1840-1870 The Nine Years: 1871-1879 The Ten Years: 1880-1889 The Ten Years: 1890-1899 The Final Years: 1900-1928