This Norton Critical Edition includes: * The first one-volume version of the novel, from 1892, accompanied by the note to the first edition, preface to the fifth edition, and three appendices to the text. * Detailed introductory materials and explanatory footnotes by Phillip Mallett and Jane Thomas. * Three illustrations. * A selection of contextual materials on Hardy's Wessex and his nonfiction writings. * Critical interpretations that include a wide variety of contemporary reviews and ten modern critical essays. * A chronology of Hardy's life and a selected bibliography.