Books

The first appearance in print of the short story that was the precursor to Mrs Dalloway, published here as "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" at pp. 20-27. Woolf's best-known novel, published in 1925, was also based on the unpublished "The Prime Minister". "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" was published in The Dial after T. S. Eliot rejected it for The Criterion. It was not reprinted until 1973. The character of Mrs Dalloway had previously appeared in Woolf's first book, The Voyage Out (1915). Woolf intended "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" to be the first in a series of separate stories, but ultimately retained elements of it as the basis for the novel, giving it a more unified narrative. Kirkpatrick C238. Octavo. Original orange wrappers lettered in black, contents wire-stitched. Frontispiece, 7 plates, 12 pp. advertisements at front, 8 pp. at rear. Neat recent ownership inscription in pencil on front cover: "F. Dreyfous, Vineyard Haven". Wrappers lightly toned, marked, and creased: a very good copy.

Mrs Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional high-society woman in post–First World War England. It is one of Woolf's best-known novels.