as the clock struck one’,
Diary,
III, 18 March 1928, p. 176 (confusingly repeated at the entry for 22 March, p. 177).
3. V. Sackville-West, ‘Virginia Woolf and
Orlando’ (Listener,
27 January 1955, PP. 157–8).
4. Madeline Moore,
‘Orlando
: An Edition of the Manuscript’ in
Twentieth Century Literature
(No. 25, 1979, pp. 303–55).
5. Bibliographical details are taken from B. J. Kirkpatrick,
A Bibliography of Virginia Woolf (
3rd edn, OUP, 1980, pp. 34–8).
6. See note in
Letters,
V, p. 168.
7. John Mepham,
Virginia Woolf: A Literary Life
(Macmillan, 1991, pp. 130–31).
A Note on the Illustrations
Orlando
is unique among Woolf’s novels in presenting itself to readers as a biography, if parodically so:
I am writing Orlando half in a mock style very clear & plain, so that people will understand every word. But the balance between truth & fantasy must be careful. It is based on Vita, Violet Trefusis, Lord Lascelles, Knole &c. 1
In support of this claim the first edition features eight illustrations, plus a black and white portrait on the dust jacket which appears as the frontispiece to this edition. The photograph is of a painting or part of a painting of a gentleman in Elizabethan costume with a large shield before him (on previous occasions Vanessa Bell had designed and illustrated dust jackets for Woolf’s novels). The first edition notes that this portrait (which looks like a modern pastiche) is reproduced by kind permission of the Worthing Art Gallery, but nothing more is known about it.
Woolf began assembling the photographs for
Orlando
in October 1927; three of these were of Vita Sackville-West, while three others were taken from portraits at Knole. Taking the pictures in order of their appearance, the first, which is also the frontispiece to the original volume (‘Orlando as a Boy’), is the right-hand side of a double portrait at Knole. Painted by Cornelius Nuie, it shows two sons of Edward Sackville, fourth Earl of Dorset, as boys; the younger one, the Honourable Edward Sackville, is depicted here. Vita had also reproduced this picture in her book
Knole and the Sackvilles
(1922). The second (‘The Russian Princess as a Child’) is a photograph of Woolf’s niece Angelica Bell (daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant); it may be a collage, as the lower part of the photograph appears painted. The third (‘The Archduchess Harriet’) is Marcus Gheeraerts’ portrait of Mary Curzon, fourth Countess of Dorset, then hanging in theparlour passage at Knole; while the fourth (‘Orlando as Ambassador’), is from a pastel portrait of Lionel, first Duke of Dorset, by Rosalba Carriera, in the sitting room. 2 The fifth (‘Orlando on her return to England’) is a studio photograph of Vita, probably taken by Lenare. The sixth (‘Orlando about the year 1840’) seems to have been taken by Vanessa and Duncan on the afternoon of 14 November 1927. 3 The seventh (‘Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire’) is the painting of a young man
c.
1820 by an unidentified artist – he bears some resemblance to the young Harold Nicolson. Vita had bought it from a London dealer and it now hangs at Sissinghurst. 4 The eighth (‘Orlando at the present time’) is a photograph of Vita at Long Barn taken by Leonard Woolf, probably at the end of April 1928. Virginia wrote to Vita: ‘It has now become essential to have a photograph of Orlando in country clothes in a wood. If you have films and a camera I thought Leonard might take you.’ 5
In this edition the photographs have been placed as closely as possible to their positions in the first edition.
NOTES
1.
Diary,
III, 22 Oct. 1927, p. 162.
2. The use of these three Knole portraits later led the new Lord Sackville to complain that they had been used without his permission – in fact Vita had obtained her father’s permission before his death; see
Letters,
III, p. 558.
3. See letters to Vita, 6 and 11 Nov. 1927,
Letters,
III, pp. 434–5. Footnotes explain
Diary,
III, 18 March 1928, p. 176 (confusingly repeated at the entry for 22 March, p. 177).
3. V. Sackville-West, ‘Virginia Woolf and
Orlando’ (Listener,
27 January 1955, PP. 157–8).
4. Madeline Moore,
‘Orlando
: An Edition of the Manuscript’ in
Twentieth Century Literature
(No. 25, 1979, pp. 303–55).
5. Bibliographical details are taken from B. J. Kirkpatrick,
A Bibliography of Virginia Woolf (
3rd edn, OUP, 1980, pp. 34–8).
6. See note in
Letters,
V, p. 168.
7. John Mepham,
Virginia Woolf: A Literary Life
(Macmillan, 1991, pp. 130–31).
A Note on the Illustrations
Orlando
is unique among Woolf’s novels in presenting itself to readers as a biography, if parodically so:
I am writing Orlando half in a mock style very clear & plain, so that people will understand every word. But the balance between truth & fantasy must be careful. It is based on Vita, Violet Trefusis, Lord Lascelles, Knole &c. 1
In support of this claim the first edition features eight illustrations, plus a black and white portrait on the dust jacket which appears as the frontispiece to this edition. The photograph is of a painting or part of a painting of a gentleman in Elizabethan costume with a large shield before him (on previous occasions Vanessa Bell had designed and illustrated dust jackets for Woolf’s novels). The first edition notes that this portrait (which looks like a modern pastiche) is reproduced by kind permission of the Worthing Art Gallery, but nothing more is known about it.
Woolf began assembling the photographs for
Orlando
in October 1927; three of these were of Vita Sackville-West, while three others were taken from portraits at Knole. Taking the pictures in order of their appearance, the first, which is also the frontispiece to the original volume (‘Orlando as a Boy’), is the right-hand side of a double portrait at Knole. Painted by Cornelius Nuie, it shows two sons of Edward Sackville, fourth Earl of Dorset, as boys; the younger one, the Honourable Edward Sackville, is depicted here. Vita had also reproduced this picture in her book
Knole and the Sackvilles
(1922). The second (‘The Russian Princess as a Child’) is a photograph of Woolf’s niece Angelica Bell (daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant); it may be a collage, as the lower part of the photograph appears painted. The third (‘The Archduchess Harriet’) is Marcus Gheeraerts’ portrait of Mary Curzon, fourth Countess of Dorset, then hanging in theparlour passage at Knole; while the fourth (‘Orlando as Ambassador’), is from a pastel portrait of Lionel, first Duke of Dorset, by Rosalba Carriera, in the sitting room. 2 The fifth (‘Orlando on her return to England’) is a studio photograph of Vita, probably taken by Lenare. The sixth (‘Orlando about the year 1840’) seems to have been taken by Vanessa and Duncan on the afternoon of 14 November 1927. 3 The seventh (‘Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire’) is the painting of a young man
c.
1820 by an unidentified artist – he bears some resemblance to the young Harold Nicolson. Vita had bought it from a London dealer and it now hangs at Sissinghurst. 4 The eighth (‘Orlando at the present time’) is a photograph of Vita at Long Barn taken by Leonard Woolf, probably at the end of April 1928. Virginia wrote to Vita: ‘It has now become essential to have a photograph of Orlando in country clothes in a wood. If you have films and a camera I thought Leonard might take you.’ 5
In this edition the photographs have been placed as closely as possible to their positions in the first edition.
NOTES
1.
Diary,
III, 22 Oct. 1927, p. 162.
2. The use of these three Knole portraits later led the new Lord Sackville to complain that they had been used without his permission – in fact Vita had obtained her father’s permission before his death; see
Letters,
III, p. 558.
3. See letters to Vita, 6 and 11 Nov. 1927,
Letters,
III, pp. 434–5. Footnotes explain
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