Dreadnought Hoax by Stephen Adrian, First Edition (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. The spine is browned with a small chip out of it at the top and slight chipping at the bottom. Some browning to the front and rear panels with a stain at the top of the rear panel and a smaller stain along the top edge of the front panel. Page edges a little browned with darkened top edges where there is a damp stain. The pages are a little browned with heavy browning to the half-title page and the blank page preceding the rear free endpaper. Staining at the top edges of the first few pages but the pages are otherwise unmarked. No jacket as issued - the card covers are illustrated. First printing.

Hardcover. Condition: VG. 1st.

First edition, first impression, of Virginia Woolf's younger brother's account of Horace de Vere Cole's elaborate blackface hoax. This copy has a cutting of Anthony Buxton's obituary laid in, describing him as "Emperor in Abyssinian Hoax". In 1910 Virginia Stephen (later Woolf), Guy Ridley, Anthony Buxton, and Duncan Grant masqueraded as Abyssinian royals, with Adrian Stephen as their "interpreter", and were treated to a tour of the Royal Navy's flagship. The hoax was one of the first things that brought the recently-graduated Bloomsbury Group to the attention of the public. Commentators on Woolf and the Bloomsbury circle have approached the hoax with many different attitudes, some applauding its subversion of empire, bureaucracy and sexual identity, and others recognising the problematic nature of the incident in regard to race and nationality. The book was published November 1936, 2,530 copies were printed, but 1,530 copies were later pulped. Woolmer 396. Octavo. Original printed boards, front cover reproducing the frontispiece. Monochrome frontispiece and 2 plates from photographs. A fresh, bright copy, some superficial splitting along joints, some faint spotting within, very good condition.