THE VOYAGE OUT.
New York: George H. Doran Company, [1920]. First American edition. Octavo. Moss green cloth boards, lettered in black on spine, and in blind on the upper cover within an ornamental border, all edges trimmed. 380 pp. Published 20 May 1920, no record of the number of copies or impressions printed. The text was revised by Woolf for this, the first American edition. A few scattered spots to the upper board, some stray pale inkblots on first free end sheet whose corner was previously turned down, tiny dot of lavender ink near fore-tip of page 9, else a very good, square copy of Woolf's first novel, without the dust jacket.
First American edition. First appearance of Clarissa Dalloway (Mrs. Dalloway). The first UK edition was published by Duckworth & Co., the publishing house headed by her half brother Gerald Duckworth, in 1915. Duckworth did very little to support this book, or their later publication in 1919 of Night and Day, which prompted her and Leonard to purchase the rights to the two books.
"George H. Dorn Company of New York published the American editions of both titles in 1920. Apparently, Woolf had offers from two American publishers, Doran and Macmillan, according to her 26 November 1919 letter to [Lytton] Strachey. She revised the text of her novels for an American audience: 'I have to send the books off on Monday & they say the more alterations the better—because of copyright. I’ve glanced between the boards and see that the whole thing must be rewritten from the beginning — and only 2 days to do it in!' According to the International Copyright Act passed by Congress in 1891, American issues of British books had to be typeset and printed in the United States; American publishers could not print from British plates. Consequently, there are variations between the British and American editions of Virginia Woolf’s publications" (Cooper, 2014). Very good. Item #677
KIRKPATRICK & CLARKE A1b.
Price: $375.00