The biggest ever collection of Thomas Hardy’s works is going on show in the UK – and it will be free to visit

Britain’s greatest writers of all time hail from all over country. To discover what made Charles Dickens tick, you go to London or Kent. To see the landscapes that inspired William Wordsworth, ramble in the Lake District. Head to Bath to walk in the footsteps of Jane Austen and explore Yorshire to see what sparked the imaginations of the Brontës. If you’re a particular fan of the words of Thomas Hardy, you go to Dorset. 

Born near Dorchester in 1840, Thomas Hardy went on to create magnificent pieces of literature, from poems like The Darkling Thrush to classic novels like Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd and Jude the Obscure. It’s believed that Dorset was the primary inspiration behind his imaginary territory of Wessex. 

Now, nearly 100 years after his death, you can travel to Dorset to see largest ever Thomas Hardy archive... for free. After a two-year-long cataloging project, this month the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester has made the archive accessible to the public. 

The archive is made of more than 100 boxes that contain notebooks, photographs and over 5,000 letters written by Hardy. On top of all of that, there’s school exercise books, architectural drawings, sketches and his family’s music books alongside letters from his contemporaries, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Siegfried Sassoon, J.M Barrie and Virginia Woolf. 

Ruth Burton at Dorset History Centre said: ‘The letters are full of news and opinions on literature and the historic events and movements of the day - including World War One, animal rights and women's suffrage - making them a wonderful resource.’

She added that the collection shows how ‘deeply Dorset shaped Hardy's imagination’ and that it will ‘will inspire new generations of readers and researchers to engage with some of the county's most significant cultural heritage’.

To see the extensive collection with your own eyes, you’ll have to book an appointment at the Dorset History Centre. Much of it is also available to view online here. 

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