Virginia Woolf - First edition Flush: A Biography - 1933

Virginia Woolf – Flush: first edition. A Biography – Hogarth Press – illustrated edition. First edition in 1933.
A fine early edition of Virginia Woolf's Flush: A Biography, the remarkable literary biography in which Woolf takes the life of the cocker spaniel Flush, the dog of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as a starting point.
Flush originally appeared in 1933 at The Hogarth Press, the famous publishing house of Virginia and Leonard Woolf. The book constitutes a playful blend of biography, fiction, social observation, and Victorian history. Woolf recounts, among other things, Flush's life with Mary Russell Mitford, his move to Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Wimpole Street, and his later life in Italy.
Illustrations
Of particular appeal is the extensive illustration cycle. The book contains both line drawings by Vanessa Bell and photographic reproductions of historical portraits and images. Vanessa Bell was Virginia Woolf's sister and an important artist within the Bloomsbury Group.
Among the illustrations visible in the photographs are:
“Miss Mitford takes Flush for a walk”
“The back bedroom”
“At Casa Guidi”
“So she pillowed amid the…”
portrait of Miss Mitford
portrait of Mrs. Browning / Elizabeth Barrett Browning
portrait of Robert Browning
The historical portraits are among those reproduced with the permission of the National Portrait Gallery.
This aligns with the original illustration concept of Flush: bibliographic sources describe four drawings by Vanessa Bell and five halftone plates in the early Hogarth Press edition. a0
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Collation and pagination
The actual narrative ends on page 150 with The End. After that follow:
Authorities – from p. 151
Notes – up to and including p. 163
The last numbered page is 163. In addition, the book contains separate/unpaginated illustration sheets.
Interestingly, it is precisely a Hogarth Press edition of Flush with 163 pages that is bibliographically documented.
Condition
For its age the book is in good, original antiquarian condition.
The interior is predominantly clean and readable. The paper shows the usual light browning expected of a book of this age. Locally there is light foxing/spotting, especially toward the rear. The pictured plates and line drawings are nicely and clearly preserved.
The spine shows signs of wear and aging, with some wear to the edges and corners. The binding and text block still look fairly solid in the photos. See the extensive photos for the exact condition; they form part of the description.
Bibliographic interest
Flush is among Virginia Woolf’s better-known experimental works (1882–1941). The first Hogarth Press edition appeared on 5 October 1933 in 12,680 copies and was almost immediately successful; later that same month a second printing/impression of 3,000 copies followed.
The interplay between Woolf's text and Vanessa Bell's drawings makes the early illustrated Hogarth Press editions particularly appealing to collectors of Virginia Woolf, the Bloomsbury Group, English literature, and Hogarth Press publications.