Books

New York: Doran, 1920. First Edition. Hardcover. fine/very good. 1st American edition of her 2nd novel. Cloth with little corner rubs (light as a cat’s footfall), else fine, in an unrepaired dustjacket with the shadow of a handwritten number on the spine, corner chips, and edge tears, else very good. Here is 37–year old Woolf, shrewd as an insurance adjuster, trying her hand at contrasts by portraying 4 young people who idealize different kinds of independence and yet, as is conventional with young people, insist on each other’s support and fail to see any irony in that. Duckworth’s 1919 London 1st edition of Night and Day is aggravatingly rare in a dustjacket, and one as nice as our NY edition, would be 10 times our price, and if you can find one, and if you can afford it, buy that. This 1st American edition in jacket is less rare, but RBH says only one copy has sold at auction since 1975 (34 years ago), and were it thought to be fairly valued at, say, $5,000, every copy…

Night and Day is a novel by Virginia Woolf first published on 20 October 1919. It is a traditional novel compared to Woolf's later modernist works, focusing on the relationships and professional challenges of Katherine Hilbery and Mary Datchet. The novel is set in Edwardian London and contrasts the daily lives and romantic attachments of the two women.

A first edition of 'Night and Day' can be identified by the original publisher's binding and dust jacket, if present, as well as the date of publication printed on the title page or copyright page.