Macmillan's Magazine asked for a new serial in October 1884. It was published as a serial in this magazine and in the American Harper's Bazaar in 1887, followed by a three-volume first edition in March of the same year. Reception The Woodlanders was widely praised. It was declared by the Saturday Review in April 1887 to be, "the best [novel] that Hardy has written", by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, "his loveliest if not his finest book", by William Lyon Phelps, "the most beautiful and most noble of Hardy's novels", and by A. Edward Newton, "one of the best novels of the last half century". The late nineteenth century English author George Gissing read the novel in March 1888 "with much delight" but felt that the "human part is...painfully unsatisfactory".<ref>Coustillas, Pierre ed. London and the Life of Literature in Late Victorian England: the Diary of George Gissing, Novelist. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1978, p24.</ref> The novel remained a personal favourite of Hardy's. Newman Flower recounted that Hardy named it to him as his "favourite novel", and 25 years after its publication, Hardy wrote that, "On taking up The Woodlanders and reading it after many years, I like it as a story best of all." Adaptations Soon after the novel's publication, Hardy was approached by Jack Grein and Charles Jarvis for permission to adapt it for performance in 1889. But although various drafts were written, the project came to nothing. It was not until 1913 that A.H. Evans' play in 3 acts was produced by the Dorchester Debating and Dramatic Society; the performance was also taken to London that year and to Weymouth in 1914. In the following century, two dramatic adaptations of the novel went on tour in the West Country. In 2013 the New Hardy Players put on Emily Fearn's version, and in 2016 the Hammerpuzzle Theatre Company put on Tamsin Kennard's version. The BBC made the novel into a film in 1970, starring Felicity Kendal and Ralph Bates. This was followed by Phil Agland's The Woodlanders'' of 1997. The novel was adapted as an opera by Stephen Paulus and premiered by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1985. References External links (1997) (1970) 1887 British novels British novels adapted into films British novels adapted into television shows Novels by Thomas Hardy Victorian novels Novels adapted into operas