Between the Acts

First US edition. Large crown 8vo. Pp. [iv], 219, [1, blank]. Blue cloth with gilt-ruled lettering to spine (faded somewhat); top edge stained canary-yellow. Near flawless dustjacket printed in blue and brown, in the Vanessa Bell design (priced $2.50 on the front flap). Published 2 October 1941. 1/12,500 copies printed.

Review Copy, with publisher's complimentary slip tipped in. Book browned to spine, tanned to prelims, else Fine.

A play within a play set in an English country house prior to the outbreak of World War II. It is the height of summer and preparations for the village's annual pageant are in full swing. Woolf's last novel published posthumously, and in her own opinion, "more quintessential" than any of her others, which she "enjoyed writing almost every page". Manuscript completed, but not finally revised for the printer, at the time of her death. "She would not, I believe, have made any large or material alterations in it, though she would probably have made a good many small corrections or revisions before passing the final proofs." [From the short introductory note by Leonard Woolf.]

[Kirkpatrick A26b]