Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collectors Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collectors Library are books to love and treasure. An unforgettably powerful tragedy, Thomas Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles is one of the great classics of the late nineteenth century. This edition features illustrations by Sir Hubert von Herkomer and Joseph Syddall, and an afterword by Philip Mallett, editor of the Thomas Hardy Journal.Tess Durbeyfields father forcibly sends her off to work for the wealthy DUrberville family, hoping to alleviate their poverty and perhaps secure her a marriage to the cruel and manipulative Alec DUrberville. His terrible assault upon her, and the subsequent child, form the terrible heart of Tesss tragic life - as family, love and future are taken away from her by the repressive mores of Victorian society.