Common Reader by Woolf Virginia, Signed (4 results)

First edition of the second collection of Woolf's critical essays. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Virginia Woolf on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Rare and desirable signed. Woolf's second collection of critical writings, this volume contains twenty-six essays on the most brilliant figures in three centuries of English literature ranging from the magnificent Jack Mytton, and Mary, the high-handed, hot-blooded wife of Shelley, to the little, whimsical, religious Christina Rossetti and the bedeviled George Gissing. Other essays critique the work and character of Defoe, Swift, Hazlitt, Hardy, and Meredith.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1932. First edition, 1932. Great association copy with a handwritten inscription by Lady Ottoline Morrell to her half-brother, William Arthur, Sixth Duke of Portland, with his armorial bookplate inside the front cover. Lady Ottoline was a great patron of literature and frequently hosted the Bloomsbury group, including Virginia Woolf, and developed a stormy relationship with her. In her memoirs, Lady Ottoline said: "She seemed to feel certain of her own eminence. It is true, but it is rather crushing, for I feel she is very contemptuous of other people. When I stretched out a hand to feel another woman, I found only a very lovely, clear intellect." Green cloth with gilt spine lettering, no dustjacket. Some modest shelfwear, good hinges, sound text block, clean pages. The inscription on the front free endpaper reads: "From Ottoline to my loved Brother" dated Dec 28 1932 (looks like 1922 but that is before the book was published). Below the bookplate is a bookseller ticket from London. Association Copy. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. First Edition. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. Woolf. Virginia. THE COMMON READER. Signed Association Copy From the library of Victoria Strachey & Mark Holloway. London: Hogarth Press, 1925. 8vo., 305pp., light grayish blue cloth, second edition issued November - the first was issued in April. A short & amusing Als. from Virginia Woolf tipped to the front free endpaper, reading: "To / Dr. Rendel, / A small dose nightly to / ensure sleep / Virginia Woolf / Christmas 1925"*. The book is further signed in pencil by F.E. Rendel at the top of the front endpaper. At the corner of the front pastedown is another [very lightly written] inscription that reads: "For Victoria [Strachey] with love from . March 21st., 1951" A very good copy lacking the dustwrapper & showing light general use. There is some spotting to some of the front & back pages, the spine is slightly yellowed & there is a chip to the paper spine label which is mildly tanned. Provenance: Ex Libris; Dr. Frances Elinor Rendel & Acquired from the library of Victoria Strachey & Mark Holloway. [Lytton Strachey was Victoria Strachey's great uncle] - Dr. F.E. Rendel, to whom this letter is inscribed by Virginia Woolf, was Doctor Frances Elinor Rendel (1885 - 1942), the daughter of Lytton Strachey's Eldest sister Eleanor, & was known as Ellie Rendel. At some point in 1924, Dr. F.E. Rendel became the London doctor of Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry & the Bells (Vanessa & Clive). Vanessa Bell writes in a letter to Virginia Woolf of April 23rd. 1927:- "Roger [Fry] comes tomorrow. He was to have come before, but it seems that Ellie [Rendel] nearly killed him, like you, with her new brand of inoculations, and he couldn't start as he meant to." Dr. F.E. Rendel was the doctor treating Virginia Woolf at the very end of her life. *The Uncollected Letters of Virginia Woolf Edited by Stephen Barkway, Stuart N. Clarke 281. Signed by Author.

Condition: Very Good. New Edition. Second printing of the new edition. Signed by Virginia Woolf on the front free endpaper. Bound in publisher's green cloth with spine titled lettered in gilt; lacking the dust jacket. Very Good with light wear at extremities, light soiling to cloth and endsheets foxed. While limited editions signed by Virginia Woolf are somewhat common, signed trade editions have become quite scarce.