that three portraits of the Sackville family were used in
Orlando
(the frontispiece and the third and fourth pictures). A further footnote (p. 435) identifies the photograph of Vita in a hat, shawl and check skirt (‘Orlando about the year 1840’) as the work of Vanessa and Duncan. The earlier photograph of Vita in satin and pearls (‘Orlando on her return to England’) was probably taken by Lenare, since Virginia wrote to Vita, ‘Nessa wants to photograph you at 2, that is if she thinks the Lenare too bad.’ It looks as if, in addition to the fancy-dress ‘1840’ picture, Vanessa andDuncan took some photographs of Vita in the pink satin and pearls that were intended to suggest a Lely portrait because in Madeline Moore’s book
The Short Season Between Two Silences
(Unwin Hyman, 1984) there is a photograph of a rather dishevelled Vita in pearls and satin, captioned, ‘Vita… posing as a lily [Lely?] in Vanessa Bell’s studio, 1928’. In
Vita
(p. 182), Victoria Glendinning quotes an amusing account of one of these photographic sessions, though she later (p. 205) identifies the ‘1840’ portrait as the one taken by Lenare, a view contradicted by the editors of the
Letters.
4. See Letter to Vita, 17 April 1928,
Letters,
III, p. 484; and footnote.
5. Letter to Vita, 27 April 1928,
Letters,
III, p. 488. This photograph also appears in
Letters of Vita.
Two other versions, apparently taken on the same occasion, appear in
Vita
(here credited to Virginia, rather than Leonard) and in Nigel Nicolson’s
Vita and Harold: The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson 1910–1962
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1992).
Overleaf: facsimile of the frontispiece and title page of the first edition.
ORLANDO
A BIOGRAPHY
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1928
TO
V. SACKVILLE-WEST
Chapter III
It is, indeed, highly unfortunate, and much to be regretted that at this stage of Orlando’s career, when he played a most important part in the public life of his country, we have least information to go upon. We know that he discharged his duties to admiration — witness his Bath and his Dukedom. 1 We know that he had a finger in some of the most delicate negotiations between King Charles and the Turks — to that, treaties in the vault of the Record Office bear testimony. But the revolution which broke out during his period of office, and the fire 2 which followed, have so damaged or destroyed all those papers from which any trustworthy record could be drawn, that what we can give is lamentably incomplete. Often the paper was scorched a deep brown in the middle of the most important sentence. Just when we thought to elucidate a secret that has puzzled historians for a hundred years, there was a hole in the manuscript big enough to put your finger through. We have done our best to piece out a meagre summary from the charred fragments that remain; but often it has been necessary to speculate, to surmise, and even to use the imagination.
Orlando’s day was passed, it would seem, somewhat in this fashion. About seven, he would rise, wrap himself in a long Turkish cloak, light a cheroot, 3 and lean his elbows on the parapet. Thus he would stand, gazing at the city beneath him, apparently entranced. At this hour the mist would lie so thick that the domes of Santa Sofia 4 and the rest would seem to be afloat; gradually the mist would uncover them; the bubbles would be seen to be firmly fixed; there would be the river; there the Galata Bridge; there the green-turbaned pilgrims without eyes or noses, begging alms; there the pariah dogs picking up offal; there the shawled women; there the innumerable donkeys; there men on horses carrying long poles. Soon, the whole town would be astirwith the cracking of whips, the beating of gongs, cryings to prayer, lashing of mules, and rattle of brass-bound wheels, while sour odours, made from bread fermenting and incense,
Orlando
(the frontispiece and the third and fourth pictures). A further footnote (p. 435) identifies the photograph of Vita in a hat, shawl and check skirt (‘Orlando about the year 1840’) as the work of Vanessa and Duncan. The earlier photograph of Vita in satin and pearls (‘Orlando on her return to England’) was probably taken by Lenare, since Virginia wrote to Vita, ‘Nessa wants to photograph you at 2, that is if she thinks the Lenare too bad.’ It looks as if, in addition to the fancy-dress ‘1840’ picture, Vanessa andDuncan took some photographs of Vita in the pink satin and pearls that were intended to suggest a Lely portrait because in Madeline Moore’s book
The Short Season Between Two Silences
(Unwin Hyman, 1984) there is a photograph of a rather dishevelled Vita in pearls and satin, captioned, ‘Vita… posing as a lily [Lely?] in Vanessa Bell’s studio, 1928’. In
Vita
(p. 182), Victoria Glendinning quotes an amusing account of one of these photographic sessions, though she later (p. 205) identifies the ‘1840’ portrait as the one taken by Lenare, a view contradicted by the editors of the
Letters.
4. See Letter to Vita, 17 April 1928,
Letters,
III, p. 484; and footnote.
5. Letter to Vita, 27 April 1928,
Letters,
III, p. 488. This photograph also appears in
Letters of Vita.
Two other versions, apparently taken on the same occasion, appear in
Vita
(here credited to Virginia, rather than Leonard) and in Nigel Nicolson’s
Vita and Harold: The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson 1910–1962
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1992).
Overleaf: facsimile of the frontispiece and title page of the first edition.
ORLANDO
A BIOGRAPHY
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1928
TO
V. SACKVILLE-WEST
Chapter III
It is, indeed, highly unfortunate, and much to be regretted that at this stage of Orlando’s career, when he played a most important part in the public life of his country, we have least information to go upon. We know that he discharged his duties to admiration — witness his Bath and his Dukedom. 1 We know that he had a finger in some of the most delicate negotiations between King Charles and the Turks — to that, treaties in the vault of the Record Office bear testimony. But the revolution which broke out during his period of office, and the fire 2 which followed, have so damaged or destroyed all those papers from which any trustworthy record could be drawn, that what we can give is lamentably incomplete. Often the paper was scorched a deep brown in the middle of the most important sentence. Just when we thought to elucidate a secret that has puzzled historians for a hundred years, there was a hole in the manuscript big enough to put your finger through. We have done our best to piece out a meagre summary from the charred fragments that remain; but often it has been necessary to speculate, to surmise, and even to use the imagination.
Orlando’s day was passed, it would seem, somewhat in this fashion. About seven, he would rise, wrap himself in a long Turkish cloak, light a cheroot, 3 and lean his elbows on the parapet. Thus he would stand, gazing at the city beneath him, apparently entranced. At this hour the mist would lie so thick that the domes of Santa Sofia 4 and the rest would seem to be afloat; gradually the mist would uncover them; the bubbles would be seen to be firmly fixed; there would be the river; there the Galata Bridge; there the green-turbaned pilgrims without eyes or noses, begging alms; there the pariah dogs picking up offal; there the shawled women; there the innumerable donkeys; there men on horses carrying long poles. Soon, the whole town would be astirwith the cracking of whips, the beating of gongs, cryings to prayer, lashing of mules, and rattle of brass-bound wheels, while sour odours, made from bread fermenting and incense,
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