A young woman's collection of 1920s literary and political greats

Woolf, Virginia, British writer (1882-1941), and other notable figures of English culture and politics of the 1920s. Album of autograph letters signed.

€ 8,500.00

A remarkably intact collection of autograph letters signed, autograph postcards signed, and cut signatures from prominent British writers, politicians and clergy of the 1920s, including Virginia Woolf, Jerome K. Jerome, David Lloyd George and many more. The range of figures represented and the integrity of the collection make this album particularly distinctive.

The compiler, Gwendoline May Bulley of Fleetwood in Northwest England, was an enthusiastic collector of autographs from her teens, to the extent that her activities drew the attention of the local press. She preserved the article inside the front cover: "Miss Bulley is [enthusiastic], and one of her enthusiasms is autograph hunting. Novelists were her first victims, and from them she has secured quite a number of signatures, and better still, some delightful autograph letters".

And it is the authors who stand out in this collection, thanking Bulley for the admiration she has expressed for their work, some replying to the points she made in her clearly thoughtful letters. Virginia Woolf writes: "I am sorry to have delayed so long in answering your letter. I was very glad to hear that you liked my book Jacob's Room. I mean it to be understood that the hero was killed in the war. It is always a pleasure to find that one's writing has been enjoyed." Baroness Orczy similarly apologises for the delay and sends two postcards, one depicting Monte Carlo and another a full photo portrait of her signed.

Some writers offer pearls of wisdom, such as Jerome K. Jerome: "Hate comes from the Devil, it is the worst of all vices", while others are more to the point, such as Marjorie Bowen: "I thank you for your very nice letter of Dec. 26. and appreciate the pleasant things you say about my work. What you want is at the bottom of this letter".

Other writers in the volume include John Galsworthy, John Masefield and "Wilhelmina Stitch" (Ruth Collie). All British Prime Ministers of the 1920s are present (David Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, and Ramsay MacDonald), as are prominent clergy of the day and notable figures of the Scout/Guide movement, including Robert Baden Powell.

A remarkably intact panorama of British artistic and political figures of the 1920s, still bearing a strong character of its original creator.