WOOLF

[Victoria Sackville [Lady Sackville: Victoria Josefa Dolores Catalina Sackville-West, Baroness Sackville], aristocrat, mother of Vita Sackville-West, lover of Virginia Woolf.] Large Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Victoria Sackville [Lady Sackville: Victoria Josefa Dolores Catalina Sackville-West (1862-1936), Baroness Sackville], aristocrat, mother of the writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West, lover of Virgin
Publication details: 
1919. No place.
£100.00

See her daughter’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on worn and sunned paper. Large sprawling signature in pencil, written diagonally across the length of the page, with date beneath the underlining: ‘Victoria Sackville / 1919’. See IMage.

[Sir Leslie Stephen, first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, father of Virginia Woolf.] Autograph Letter, Signed as ?The Editor of the Cornhill?, to an unnamed lady, declining the offer of an article.

Author: 
Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, author and literary critic, father of Virginia Woolf
Publication details: 
24 December 1874; on letterhead of the Cornhill Magazine, Smith, Elder & Co [London].
£180.00

For information regarding Sir Leslie Stephen, consult Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, though somewhat aged and worn, with strip of brown paper stub adhering to one edge. Folded for postage. Reads: ?Madam, / I am obliged by your offer of an article, but, though I agree with you that it has some merit, I regret that my engagements make it quite impossible for me to accept it. / Your truly / The Editor of the Cornhill? (?Cornhill? little more than a series of scratches). See Image.

[‘Become an ambassador if you like’: H. A. L. Fisher [Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher], English historian and Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Beresford-Hope, congratulating him on his ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’.

Author: 
H. A. L. Fisher [Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher] (1865-1940), English historian and Liberal politician; Virginia Woolf’s cousin [Harold Thomas Beresford-Hope (1882-1917)]
Publication details: 
9 June 1907; 34 Norham Road, Oxford.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At his death in 1917, H. T. Beresford-Hope was Third Secretary at the British Legation at Athens; and he left the enormous sum of £67,167. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Beresford-Hope’ and signed ‘H. Fisher’. Twenty-eight lines of text. He begins a gently teasing letter by stating that he is delighted to hear of Beresford-Hope’s ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’, his wife joining him in sending congratulations.

[William Plomer, poet and novelist, Benjamin Britten’s librettist.] Autograph Letter Signed to the autograph collector Eileen M. Cond, apologising for his ‘ordinary’ signature.

Author: 
William Plomer [William Charles Franklyn Plomer] (1903-1973), English poet and novelist, born in South Africa, Benjamin Britten’s librettist [Eileen M. Cond, autograph collector]
Plomer
Publication details: 
27 August 1936; c/o Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, WC1 [London].
£56.00
Plomer

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Cond, / I have pleasure in sending you my signature. As you will see, it is quite an ordinary one. / Yours very truly / William Plomer’. The signature is in fact rather stylish in an understated way, and the underlining has two small curls in it. In ink on otherwise-blank reverse, by someone who misread the signature: 'William Ploms'. See Image.

[Cecil Woolf, bookseller and publisher, nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf.] Autograph Card Signed to bookseller Andrew Block, regarding his offer of ‘two Thomas Moore letters’.

Author: 
Cecil Woolf [Cecil James Sidney Woolf] (1927-2019), bookseller and publisher, nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Woolf
Publication details: 
27 August 1959; on letterhead of ‘Cecil Woolf, Bookseller, 24 Victoria Square, London, S.W.1.’
£56.00
Woolf

See his obituary in the Guardian, 26 June 2019. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Plain postcard, with his letterhead and the following printed at the foot: ‘WANTED. Any English book, or any book printed in England, before 1700.’ Signed ‘Cecil Woolf.’ Aged and worn, with central vertical fold. Addressed, with stamp and postmark, to ‘Andrew Block, Esqre., / 20, Barter Street, / Holborn, W.C.1’.

[ W.H. Smith; James Stephen, uncle of Virginia Woolf ] Autograph Letter Signed to "Henry S. Cobb Esq | M.P." with Smith's response concerning Mr Justice Stephen and a "notorious {condition of affairs}".s

Author: 
W.H. Smith [ William Henry Smith ], ministerial Member of Parliament.
Publication details: 
[Headed] 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, 6 March 1891.
£120.00

Three pages, cr. 8vo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition. "I have read your letter with reference to Mr Justice Stephen with care, and I observe that while you throw the whole responsibility on the Government for the continuance of a condition which you describe as 'notorious' and creating 'a general dissatisfaction' you do not advance a single specific allegation as to a failure of justice on which it would be possible to take action.

[Violet Trefusis, lover of Vita Sackville-West.] Unpublished work privately printed by John Phillips: 'Letters from Violet Trefusis to John Phillips (1961-1968)'.

Author: 
John Phillips (1926-2017), flâneur and literary executor of Violet Trefusis (1894-1972; née Keppel), English socialite and author, lover of Vita Sackville-West ['Sasha' in 'Orlando' of Virginia Woolf]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Phuket, Thailand: between 2009 and 2014.]
£800.00

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – no other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

[Rudolf Nureyev: personal reminiscences of John Phillips.] Privately printed collection of 'Nureyev Notes August 1966', regarding 'Sleeping Beauty' at La Scala, Milan. Inscribed by Phillips to Barbara Reed.

Author: 
John Phillips (1926-2017), flâneur and literary executor of Violet Trefusis (1894-1972; née Keppel), English socialite and author, lover of Vita Sackville-West [Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. [Phuket, Thailand; 2009.] Inscription of February 2011.
£250.00

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

[ Vita Sackville-West ] Small Printed Card Signed in her hand "Vita. | For Diana and Nigel"

Author: 
Vita Sackville-West, author and gardener
Vita
Publication details: 
No place or date
£180.00
Vita

White Card, 6 x 4.5cm, a little grubby but otherwise good condition. Printed text as follows: "I am going abroad so am not sending Christmas cards this year, but I should not like you to think I had forgotten you." Followed by her signature etc (as detailed above.

[Lord Annan and Virginia Woolf's cousin Dorothea Jane Stephen.] Three Autograph Letters Signed from 'N. G. Annan' to 'Miss Stephen', on his biography of her uncle Sir Leslie Stephen. With autograph notes by her, including a childhood reminiscence.

Author: 
Noel Gilroy Annan (1916-2000), Baron Annan [Lord Annan] [Dorothea Jane Stephen (1871-1965), daughter of James Fitzjames Stephen, niece of Sir Leslie Stephen and cousin of Virginia Woolf]
Publication details: 
All three on letterhead of King's College, Cambridge. The three dated by the recipient to 'Spt. or Oct. 1951', '2/10. [2 October] 1951' and '29/2/52' [29 February 1952].
£320.00

The three letters in very good condition; the first two attached to one another in one corner by a stud. Also included is Dorothea Stephen's copy of Annan's biography ('Leslie Stephen: His Thought and Character in Relation to his Time', 1951), worn and without dustwrapper, with her ownership signature ('D J. Stephen'), and a page of autograph notes critical of the book at the rear.

[Printed pamphlet, limited to 200 copies.] Memorial Exhibition of Works by Norman Douglas (8th December 1868-9th February 1952).

Author: 
Alan Anderson; Cecil Woolf; Moray McLaren [Norman Douglas]
Memorial Exhibition of Works by Norman Douglas
Publication details: 
'On display during July 1952 at Edinburgh Central Library | George IV Bridge | Edinburgh'. [Printed by McLagan & Cumming, Edinburgh.]
£125.00
Memorial Exhibition of Works by Norman Douglas

'This Bibliographical Catalogue, compiled by Cecil Woolf and Alan Anderson, is limited to two hundred copies.' 8vo, 9 pp. In original green printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with single manuscript correction in green ink. Full-page introduction on Douglas by Moray McLaren. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at Oxford, the British Library, and the National Library of Scotland.

Autograph Note Signed from Woolf to Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

Author: 
Evelyn Woolf, secretary to Marguerite d'Alvarez (c.1883-1953), English contralto singer
Publication details: 
30 October 1928; 27 West 67th Street, New York.
£10.00

One page, octavo. Good on aged and lightly creased paper. 'As you see by the enclosed it was returned to Mme D'Alvarez. | She is so sorry, but hopes it will now reach you. | Yours Truly | [signed] Evelyn Woolf | Secretary'.

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