Orlando
Virginia Woolf
Published in 1928 by Hogarth, semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West
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Orlando
Virginia Woolf
The Bloomsbury Group was a collection of artists, authors, critics and other intellectuals who met in the Bloomsbury area of London during the early 20th century to discuss their work and exchange ideas. The members of the group mostly came from upper middle class families, made major contributions to their fields of study, and, for the most part, all met early in life before achieving success.
Despite the lack of a formal membership list or any real organization, the Bloomsbury Group is remembered today partly because its members were impressive individuals and partly because their ideas were controversial. The group's membership speaks for itself – writers Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey and Leonard Woolf, economist John Maynard Keynes, writer and publisher David Garnett, artist (and Virginia's sister) Vanessa Bell and author/poet Vita Sackville-West. There were others too.
Each of these people managed to ruffle the feathers of Victorian England in one way or another. Virginia Woolf was an early campaigner in the women's suffrage movement, most of the group were pacifists and conscious objectors to World War I, and most had progressive views about sexuality. Several were gay, or polyamorous, or bi-sexual. There were various love triangles.
While many of the group's ideas have become much less risqué over time, the issue of who was actually “in” the group and who was just a loose associate is still hotly debated. In some instances the siblings or lovers of the core members have been included as part of the Bloomsbury Group because of their own accomplishments while others have relied on the letters and diaries of Virginia Woolf and others to determine who was present.
No matter who you think was at the group's core, the heart of the Bloomsbury Group was the Hogarth Press, which was founded by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1917. The couple began hand printing books but became successful enough to use commercial printers. Hogarth published works from other Bloomsbury members but also translations of foreign literature and books on psychoanalysis.
Contributions from the Bloomsbury Group:
A Room of Ones Own
by Virginia Woolf
Published in 1929 by Hogarth, a feminist essay based on a series of lectures Woolf delivered about women in writing.
Three Guineas
by Virginia Woolf
A novel-essay meant to tie up the loose ends from A Room of One’s Own, published by Hogarth in 1938.
The Voyage Out
by Virginia Woolf
Woolf’s first novel, set on a ship, where she uses the variety of different passengers to satirise Edwardian life.
Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf
Novel in which Woolf details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway in a post-World War I England.
A Passage to India
by E.M. Forster
Forster’s 1924 novel, first published by Edward Arnold, has the backdrop of Indian independence.
Howards End
by E.M. Forster
Forster’s second contribution, after Passage to India, to Modern Libraries 100 greatest novels
The Celestial Omnibus
by E.M. Forster
A collection of short stories Forster wrote from 1901 until the book’s publication in 1911.
Proust
Clive Bell
A critical review of the French novelist Marcel Proust by this renowned art critic.
Old Friends
by Clive Bell
This is a sketch of Bell’s memories of the Bloomsbury Group; pictured is the 1957 US first edition.
Portraits in Miniature and Other Essays
by Lytton Strachey
Biographical sketches written on John Harrington, John Aubrey, Abbe Morellet and others
Virginia Woolf & Lytton Strachey – Letters
by Leonard Woolf & James Strachey
This is a real Bloomsbury effort. The letters between Woolf and Strachey, and the cover art from Bell, published by Hogarth.
Living Painters: Duncan Grant
edited by Robert Fry
A Hogarth publication first published in 1923, it includes a series of plates of Grant's paintings.
The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money
by John Maynard Keynes
Keynes' magnum opus, this work shaped modern macroeconomics and still influences financial policy today.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace
by John Maynard Keynes
Published in 1919, this bestseller helped establish the opinion that the Versailles Treaty was too brutal.
Monday or Tuesday
by Virginia Woolf, illustrated by Vanessa Bell
Virginia Woolf’s artistic sister designed the cover art for this novel.
Back
by Harry Green (dustjacket designed by Vanessa Bell)
Bell designed the dustwrapper for this novel published in 1946 by Hogarth Press.
The Edwardians
by Vita Sackville-West
One of Vita’s later novels, it critiques Edwardian aristocratic society while reflecting on her own childhood.
Grey Wethers
by Vita Sackville-West
Published in 1923, this is a romance story about love and prejudice.
A Pacifist's War
by Frances Partridge
Partridge outlived all her fellow members (1900-2004). This book details her life during World War II.
The Dreadnought Hoax
by Adrian Stephen
Stephen's account of the elaborate hoax, where Virginia Woolf, Grant and others masqueraded as Abyssinian royals.
Deceived with Kindness: A Bloomsbury Childhood
by Angelica Garnett
Garnett writes about her biological parents, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
Lady into Fox
by David Garnett
Garnett’s first novel, about a man’s wife who turns into a fox. Won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Pocahontas or The Nonparell of Virginia
by David Garnett
Semi-fictionalized story of the Indian princess and key figures in colonial Virginia
We Did Not Fight 1914-18 Experiences of War Resisters
edited by Julian Bell
The son of Clive and Vanessa Bell edited this book about WWI war resisters but he died two years after its publication in Spanish Civil War.
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