header
   

Woolf in the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own

Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets

ReviewingVirginia Woolf, who was extremely sensitive to public criticism of her work, characterizes the reviewer in her satiric essay as “a louse... a distracted tag on the tail of the political kite.” When Reviewing was published in November 1939, Leonard Woolf added a practical note to soften his wife’s strident message. While Virginia feels reviewing should be abolished, Leonard notes that if an author wants “to sell his books to the reading public and the circulating libraries, he will still need the reviewer.” In the final version of her essay, Woolf longs for the obscurity of the dark workshop in which authors are respected and not ridiculed like some hybrid “between the peacock and the ape.”


Virginia Woolf. Reviewing. London: Hogarth Press, 1939. Presented by Frances Hooper ’14.

Reviewing (typescript)
Virginia Woolf. Reviewing: corrected typescript, [1939].
Presented by Ann Safford Mandel ’53.

What I BelieveThe Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets included five numbers, beginning with an essay by the novelist E. M. Forster. In What I Believe, Forster says: “Tolerance, good temper and sympathy—they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long.”

E. M. Forster. What I Believe. London: Hogarth Press, 1939.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.

Hogarth Sixpenny Ad
Advertisement for Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets, 1939.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.

Sydney J. Loeb. Leonard and Virginia Woolf in Hyde Park:
photograph (modern print), 1 June 1925.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.

Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College

Click on each image to open it at full size in a new window.

next case | return home

Terms of Use

   
  footer  
Need Help?  Ask a Librarian! Smith College Libraries Smith College Home Smith College Directory Smith College Moodle Course Management System Smith College Email Workday Smith College Libraries on Facebook