Woolf letters

[felinejumper]

It seems literally unfair to all of you that I did not immediately sprint to my email and send this two days ago. I'm sorry! It was a busy weekend, I had to drink a lot of spritzes in between Friday and tonight. I'm in fact a few spritzes deep, t b h.

ANYWAY, yours truly made a little trip to the Smith College Rare Book Room to look at the Virginia Woolf papers this weekend. It was, holy fucking jesus christ, so cool. Uh. How do I begin to express— that link is the finding aid, so you can imagine—but oh my GOD oh my god oh my god was it incredible. I only looked at box 1, Strachey-Woolf correspondence, 1909-1919ish and Box 3, which included her proofs for The Common Reader; I wanted to look at the proofs of Lighthouse and Orlando, but...I did not (wrong box request, eeee, and also I only had an hour).I don't really have words, still, but it was actually secularly-spiritual to be holding, in my literal hands, a letter from Lytton Strachey from over a hundred years ago reacting to the same piece of media (Voyage out) with the same emotions I did in 2018. And spiritual again to read Woolf, very mundanely, writing "Come visit us at Asheham" and "I'd leave such a good review for your book if only Richmond would allow me to do so."

I sat in the rare book room and giggled out loud at Woolf and Lytton dunking on James Joyce and it was amazing amazing amazing. Amazing!!! Lytton's handwriting is very legible, hers is...not so much. I wish I were more articulate, maybe I will be later with more letters and less spritzes, but for now, here are the letters on occasion of the publication of Eminent Victorians and The Voyage Out (and also, a legible telegram for aesthetic proof).

Comments

[ruinsplume]

Omg how wonnnderfull!!! I live less than 2 hours from Smith and did not know those were there!

Can’t read the whole full page on my phone, but my eyes immediately fell on “Shakespeare wouldn’t have been ashamed” which, it strikes me, would be a fucking awesome thing to get tattooed on one’s body, in that lovely queer handwriting of yesteryear. (Is it his, or hers?)

[felinejumper]

It's an extended accident that I knew at all, and then I was in the Valley for other reasons, and...yes. The librarians were very accommodating and kind, Smith is beautiful in the spring, a strong recommend all around if you're out that way.

That is Strachey on Voyage -- his handwriting is fairly fabulous and amazingly even, especially compared to the way hers crawls slantwise up the page. The whole phrase there is:

[ruinsplume]

I can see the whole letter now, and another phrase I really love is "I read it with breathless pleasure." what a wonderful thing to have someone say about one's work!

[breathedout]

This is incredible; I'm so jealous.

[felinejumper]

Cold comfort, but I did think of you! Partially in inverse research envy -- if I knew as much as breathedout about, say, London geography in 1918, imagine how much more intuitive reading these would be. But mostly, yes, I know, I am the rightful object of significant envy.

[juushika]

There's so much secondhand joy in witnessing your joy.

[felinejumper]

I am so glad to provide <3 it's my usual role offline as well—easy enthusiasm as often as I can manage it, since 13 year old me decided being cool was not worth giving up joy—only on December it can fully bloom! With! Italics and capitals and a thousand em-dashes!

[achray]

thank you for this delightful post and for the archival joy!