Under the Greenwood Tree

For Christmas, Lindsey gave me a beautiful illustrated edition of Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree, or The Mellstock Quire.

The story concerns the ousting of the parish church's West Gallery choir and band by a newly appointed organist - the ‘comely’ school mistress, Fancy Day. In parallel it follows the actions of the vicar and a member of the West Gallery quire as they compete for her attentions.

It is a lovely story in which Hardy describes simple, rural life in an early 19th century village, and how it was changing in the face of modernisation.

In this 1940 edition, Clare Leighton's wood engravings bring the book to life. They are scattered generously through the text, which is also beautifully typeset.