There are few collectible literary figures as intriguing as Virginia Woolf, not only because her personal life was surrounded by mystery and foreboding, but also because of her unique publishing and social position. As a writer, Virginia Woolf was one of the most famous of the now-renowned Bloomsbury Group, who also featured the poet T.S.Eliot and James Joyce. Talented and lucky enough to be at the central turning point in literary history, her works have subsequently shaped the modern novel and are much sought after.
It is not only her social and literary career however that mark her first editions as being eminently collectible, but it is also her publishing history. She was first attached to London, Duckworth and Company publishing house, which, in consideration was quite small. Later however, she formed one of the most successful small independent publishers of her age: Hogarth Press, which went on to considerable success for its age and time. It was from these two relatively small publishers that later, larger reprints were sought and brought, meaning that these 'early editions are quite rare.
Both of these interesting publishing facts have meant that Virginia Woolf's works had fairly limited print runs, first with London and Duckworth, and later with Hogarth. Each print run was printed to match estimated profit, and as such their resulting volumes were less that 3000 per print run. As a result, a first edition Virigina Woolf from either her private Hogarth Press or from London Duckworth can be easily run into the thousands of dollars.
And if I was pressed to choose a certain publisher over another, London Duckworth or Hogarth,
I would always suggest Woolf's own Hogarth Press, as even though it is not as limited as London Duckworth and Company, it brings with it the prestige of being that much closer to the author, her own publishing imprint under her own direction.
Woolf, Virginia. Voyage Out. Duckworth and Co., London (1915). 2000 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. KEW GARDENS. Hogarth Press, Richmond, England (1919). Illustrated with two woodcuts by Vanessa Bell; 150 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Night and Day. Duckworth and Company, London (1919). 2000 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Mark On The Wall. Hogarth Press, Richmond (1919). 1000 copies printed; erroneously designated second edition on the upper wrapper
Woolf, Virginia. Night and Day. George H. Doran, New York (1920). 1500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Voyage Out. Duckworth and Co, London (1920).
Virginia, Woolf. Voyage Out. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1920). bookplate designed by Evelyn Waugh
Woolf, Virginia. Monday Or Tuesday. Hogarth Press, London (1921). With 4 woodcuts by Vannessa Bell; with his book plate designed by Evelyn Waugh; 1000 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Jacob's Room. Hogarth Press, London (1922). 1200 copies printed.
Virginia Woolf. Jacob's Room. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1923). 1500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown. Hogarth Press, London (1924). The Hogarth Essays, First Series, No.1; 1000 copies printed; with a design by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1925). 2100 copies printed
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Hogarth Press, London (1925). 2100 copies printed
Woolf, Virginia. Common Reader. Hogarth Press, London (1925). white pictorial boards designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Common Reader. Harcourt, Brace, New York (1925). white pictorial boards designed by Vanessa Bell; 500 copies.
WOOLF, VIRGINIA. Atalanta's Garland. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh (1926). 2000 copies; Two Unpublished Sketches by Katherine Mansfield [Kirkpatrick (Mansfield) B6]; additional contributions by Charlotte Mew (Do Dreams Lie Deeper?), Pauline Smith, Hugh MacDiarmid, W. H. Davies, Walter De La Mare
Woolf, Virginia. VOYAGE OUT. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1926).
Cameron, Julia Margaret. Victorian Photographs of Famous Men and Fair Women. Harcourt Brace and Company, New York (1926). 24 beautiful photographic plates with printed tissue guards; 250 copies printed; with An Introduction by Virginia Woolf and Roger Fry
Cameron, Julia Margaret. Victorian Photographs of Famous Men and Fair Women. Hogarth Press, London (1926). limited to 450 copies; With introductions by Virginia Woolf and Roger Fry; frontispiece and 24 plates
Woolf, Virginia. Kew Gardens. Hogarth Press, London (1927). limited to 500 copies; Illustrated by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Hogarth Press, London (1927). 1000 copies printed;
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1927). designed by Vanessa Bell; 4000 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Crosby Grace, New York (1928). A Biography; 800 copies printed; Elegant typography design by Frederic Warde
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Hogarth Press, London (1928). A Biography; 5080 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Fountain Press, New York (1929). 4000 copies printed; 492 numbered copies.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Hogarth Press, London (1929). 3040 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. Hogarth Press, London (1929).
Woolf, Virginia. SELECTIONS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND IMAGINATIVE. Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York (1929). From the Works of George Gissing; With Biographical and Critical Notes by his Son; With an Introduction by Virginia Woolf
Woolf, Virginia. SELECTIONS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND IMAGINATIVE. Jonathan Cape, London (1929). FROM THE WORKS OF GEORGE GISSING. WITH BIOGRAPHICAL ANDCRITICAL NOTES BY HIS SON. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY VIRGINIA WOOLF.
Woolf, Virginia. Voyage Out. Harcourt Brace (1929).
Woolf, Virginia. Voyage Out. Hogarth Press, London (1929). 3200 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Beau Brummell. Rimington and Hooper, New York (1930). 550 copies printed; Designed and embellished by W.A. Dwiggins
Woolf, Virginia. Night and Day. Hograth Press, London (1930). 3000 copies.
Woolf, Virginia. On Being Ill. Hogarth Press, London (1930). Illustrated Printed and Published by Leonhard and Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press; 250 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. RECENT PAINTINGS BY VANESSA BELL. London Artists' Assoc, London (1930). RECENT PAINTINGS BY VANESSA BELL; With a Foreword by Virginia Woolf; 500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Street Haunting. Westgate Press, San Francisco (1930). 500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Life as We Have Known It. Hogarth Press, London (1931). by Co-operative Working Women; Edited by Margaret Llewelyn Davies; With an Introductory Letter by Virginia Woolf; 2000 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. THE WAVES. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York (1931). DJ designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. The Waves. Hogarth Press, London (1931). In the original decorated dustwrapper designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader. Hogarth, London (1932). Second Series; Dust jacket design by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Virginia Woolf. Wishart and Co., London (1932). Novelist Winifred Holtby's early study of Virginia Woolf
Woolf, Virginia. Flush. Hogarth Press, London (1933). Frontispiece and plates, including four by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. The Waves. Hogarth Press, London (1933). 4130 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. The Years. Harcourt Brace and Co, New York (1937).
Woolf, Virginia. The Years. Hogarth Press, London (1937). Dust jacket is designed by Vanessa Bell; 23,142 copies printed
Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. Hogarth Press, London (1938). dust jacket, designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1938). Illustrated jacket by V Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Roger Fry. Hogarth Press, London (1940). with portrait of Roger Fry by Vanessa Bell; 2530 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Roger Fry. Harcourt Brace and Company, New York (1940). A Biography.
Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. Hogarth Press, London (1941). dust jacket Cover design by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. Harcourt Brace And Company, New York (1941). With an Introductory Note by Leonard Woolf
Woolf, Virginia. Death of the Moth. Harcourt, Brace, New York (1942). Vanessa Bell-designed jacket
Woolf, Virginia. Death of the Moth. Hogarth Press, London (1942). Prints a two-page preface (editorial note) by Leonard Woolf; 4500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Haunted House. Hogarth Press, London (1943). Two-page Foreword by Leonard Woolf; Jacket design by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House. Harcourt, Brace, and Company, New York (1944). jacket, designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House. Hogarth Press, London (1944). Text includes a two-page foreword by Leonard Woolf; pictorial jacket (designed by Vanessa Bell)
Woolf, Virginia. The Moment. Hogarth Press, London (1947). dust wrapper by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. COMMON READER IST. HARCOURT BRACE AND COMPANY,NEW YORK (1948).
Woolf, Virginia. Moment. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1948). Dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Captain's Death Bed. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1950).
Woolf, Virginia. Captain's Death Bed. Hogarth Press, London (1950). A collection of essays including literary criticms of Thomas Hardy, Turgenev and Joseph Conrad; intact dust jacket by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Writer's Diary. Hogarth Press, London (1953). Being Extracts from the Diary of Virginia Woolf Edited by Leonard Woolf; dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Writer's Diary. HARCOURT BRACE and COMPANY (1954).
Woolf, Virginia. Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey. Hogarth Press, London (1956). Letters; Edited by Leonard Woolf and James Strachey; dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Granite and Rainbow. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York (1958).
Woolf, Virginia. Granite and Rainbow. Hogarth Press, London (1958). Essays; dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Collected Essays. Harcourt, Brace and World, New York (1967). (4 Volumes)
Woolf, Virginia. Collected Essays. Hogarth Press, London (1967).
Woolf, Virginia. Stephen versus Gladstone. Rampant Lions Press, England (1967). 50 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Letters of Virginia Woolf. Hogarth Press, London (1975). 6 volumes; edited by Nigel Nicolson and Joanne Trautmann; Individual titles as follows: The Flight of the Mind; The Question of Things Happening; A Change of Perspective; A Reflection of the Other Person; The Sickle Side of the Moon; Leave the Letters Till We're Dead
Woolf, Virginia. Letters of Virginia Woolf. Harcourt, Brace, New York (1975). in six Volumes; ed. by Nigel Nicolson and Joanne Trautmann
Woolf, Virginia. Diary of Virginia Woolf. Hogarth Press, London (1977). Five Volumes Complete; ed by Anne Olivier Bell
Woolf, Virginia. Diary of Virginia Woolf. Harcourt Brace Janvanovich, New York (1977). Introduced by Quentin Bell; Edited by Anne Olivier Bell; 5 volumes
Woolf, Virginia. LETTERS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.. Hogarth Press, London (1980). Editor: Nigel Nicolson. Assistant editor: Joanne Trautmann; Complete in 6 volumes; Volume 1: The Flight of the Mind Volume 2: The Question of Things Happening, Volume 3: A Change of Perspective, Volume 4: A Reflection of the Other Person, Volume 5: The Sickle Side of the Moon, Volume 6: Leave the Letters Till We're Dead.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. (1980).
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1982). The Original Holograph Draft Transcribed and Edited; Dick, Susan Editor
Woolf, Virginia. Diary of Virginia Woolf. 1984 (1984). 5 vols; Edit. by Anne Olivier Bell; Introd. by Quentin Bell.
Woolf, Virginia. Collected Works of Virginia Woolf. Easton Press, Norwalk (1999). 4 vols; List of titles: 1.To The Lighthouse, foreword by Eudora Welty, illustrated by Richard Sparks. 2. Mrs. Dalloway, foreword by Maureen Howard. 3. A Room of One's Own, foreword by Mary Gordon. 4. Orlando: A Biography.
Woolf, Virginia. Virginia Woolf and the Raverats. Fleece Press, England (2003). William Pryor Editor; Limited Edition : A Different Sort of Friendship;with colour reproductions of paintings by Gwen and Jacques Raverat; 500 copies printed.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Arion, San Francisco (2005). Ninety three color photographs by Diana Michener on 12 gate-folded plates; 400 copies printed and 26 lettered copies.