Books

London: Hogarth Press, 1929. First Edition. First Impression, trade issue, one of 3,040 copies. Octavo (18.25cm); cinnamon cloth-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [4],5-172pp. Subtle offsetting to gutters at endpapers, else a fresh, Fine copy. In the original dustjacket designed by Vanessa Bell; unclipped (priced 5s.), with a barely discernable trace of sunning to the spine, and a tiny (4mm) closed tear at upper front joint; a bright, very Near Fine example. Housed in a custom quarter morocco clamshell case. An extended essay in which Woolf contemplates the paradoxical situation of the woman artist functioning in a world run by men, based on two lectures she delivered at Newnham and Girton colleges at the University of Cambridge in October, 1928. A landmark text of feminist literature that has become part of our vocabulary. While it is a virtual certainty that the 492-copy signed limited edition will turn up in Fine condition, that is not the case…

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf, first published in September 1929. The work is based on two lectures Woolf delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at the University of Cambridge. In this essay, Woolf addresses the limitations and prejudices that affect women writers and the conditions necessary for their creative work. The book is noted for its famous dictum, 'A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.'

One method of determining if a copy of 'A Room of One's Own' is a first edition is to check the publisher and date. First editions were published by Hogarth Press in 1929. Additionally, identifying features such as the presence of dust jackets, specific cover designs, and typographical errors that were corrected in later editions can also indicate a first edition.