REMINISCENCES OF A STUDENT'S LIFE.
Tavistock Square, London: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1926. Octavo. Red and black mottled cloth, paper spine label. 91 pp., 6 ¾ x 4 ¼. Six photographic plates. Spine label chipped and lettering worn off, small nick on spine which is rubbed crown and toe; one plate has a small portion missing at the fore-edge, pages toned, the rare dust jacket is not present. Just a good copy.
First edition, third impression. First impression published October 1925 at 5s; 1000 copies printed; a second impression of 1000 copies in December 1925; and the present edition of 750 copies in July 1926. There is so much that could be said regarding the life and scholarship of Harrison as she knew absolutely everyone. She was highly regarded as a noted classical scholar, linguist, and feminist, founder of modern studies in Greek mythology, and applied 19th century archaeological discoveries to the interpretation of Greek religion in ways that have become standard.
Harrison's May-December relationship with her former student Hope Mirrlees, whose sprawling poem Paris was handprinted by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1919, and published in 1920, was much gossiped about at the time. No one much cares these days. Whatever their personal relationship was their intellectual relationship was symbiotic. A lovely photograph of Harrison and Mirrlees is the sixth plate in this edition facing page 90. "And, I admit, Fate has been very kind to me. In my old age she has sent me, to comfort me, a ghostly daughter, dearer than any child after the flesh, more gifted than any possible offspring .... " -- page 90. I just love this book.
. Item #413
WOOLMER 64.
Price: $75.00