Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, born in the year 1840, wrote both novels and poetry before dying in the year 1928, at the age of 87, after becoming ill with pleurisy in late 1927. He was born to Thomas, who worked as a local builder and stonemason and Jemima, his mom. Despite the fact that his first collection of poetry being released in 1888, he wrote poetry his entire life and considered himself to be a poet.

The best place to start is the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series, the earliest of Thomas Hardy's multi-book series: it opens with Herbert: Poems (1671) and runs to 27 books across 1671–2024, ending with Cold Mountain Poems (2024).

Thomas Hardy has 149 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1667 and 2026. 122 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series with 27 books — and 27 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Thomas Hardy's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Everyman's Library Pocket Poets (1671–2024, 27 books).

This guide splits Thomas Hardy's 149 books into 3 named series and 27 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets (27 books, 1671–2024); Gothic Fantasy (91 books, 1667–2026); Foundations of Fear Anthology (4 books, 1992–1994).