The first, from Nell, is a photo of the Hogarth Press archives stacks at Special Collections at the University of Reading, which includes a collection of documents related to the Hogarth Press founded by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1917. When I was on the tour, we were not permitted to take photos, but when Nell asked at a later tour, she was given the go-ahead. Afterward, she graciously shared her photo with Blogging Woolf.
Stacks showing a portion of the Hogarth Press archives at University of Reading Special Collections. Photo: Nell Toemen
The second photo is a screenshot from Clara Farmer’s Chattobooks Instagram account, which shows Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s worn travel satchels. Virginia’s has an Air France tag attached. As some have commented, it’s difficult — and interesting — to think of Virginia on an airplane.
Screenshot of Clara Farmer’s photo posted on Instagram of Leonard and Virginia’s leather travel satchels.
Our brilliant three and a half days of listening and discussing Virginia Woolf and the World of Books had a noisy ending this afternoon. We heard birdsong and RAF fighters overhead as Anna Snaith of King’s College London presented the final plenary: Virginia Woolf’s “Gigantic Ear.”
Anna Snaith
The combination of natural and mechanical sound came from a 1942 BBC broadcast of birdsong interrupted by 197 RAF planes that Snaith shared. The online recording helped her make the point that Woolf uses sound to great effect in Between the Acts (1941).
Afterward, many Woolf scholars and common readers moved on from the 27th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf — some headed for their homes around the world, others continued their travels.
Chawton House Library
But the group of us who had signed up to go to Chawton boarded the bus to make the one-hour trip to this village in Hampshire.
Once there, we were able to visit Chawton House Library, located in a home once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward and one that Jane visited regularly.
The main collection of the Chawton House Library, which can be explored using an online catalogue, focuses on women’s literature in English during the period 1600-1830, including rare early editions and some unique books.
Jane Austen’s House and Museum
We were also able to visit Jane’s own much smaller home down the road from Chawton House, the only house where Jane lived and wrote that is open to the public as a museum.
Jane Austen’s House Museum uses 41 objects throughout the house she lived in from 1809-1817 to tell the story of this classic British writer.
Our bus at the Chawton car park.
This way to Chawton House. That way to Jane Austen’s House.
Headed down the path to the Chawton House Library
Our group starts the tour of the Chawton House Library in the Great Hall.
A view of the grounds from a Chawton House window.
Just a few of the books on display at Chawton House.
Our first sighting of Jane Austen’s House and Museum.
A look at the garden at the Jane Austen House and Museum.
This is the tiny table where Jane Austen did her writing. Only the tabletop is original.
The rather small bed Jane Austen shared with her sister Cassandra.
This light-filled window in the bedroom Jane Austen shared with her sister Cassandra looks out over the herb garden and the outbuilding where the baking was done.
A group of Woolfians poses in the garden at Jane Austen’s House: Vara Neverow, AnnMarie Bantzinger, Gill Lowe, and Stuart Clarke.
Words fail me, despite the energizing papers, panels, and round tables I heard today. Not to mention the Woolf Players, who are performing at this very moment.
Conference days are long. And full. And draining. But on the afternoon of day two of the 27th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, one plenary session — a roundtable featuring five scholars — perked up the crowd.
It was the session introducing the Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP), a new digital project that currently focuses on the Hogarth Press but plans to include more newly digitized material and information connected with additional publishers as time goes on.
“This is the first time in a long time I’ve wanted to be 22 again,” said Beth Rigel Daugherty of Otterbein University. “Last night [at the Hogarth Press 100th birthday celebration] there was this very strong sense of the past. And this project is moving toward the future.”
Visitors can navigate the site several different ways to locate works, authors, and publishers in which they are interested. They can read synopses of the work, brief bios of the authors, and download high-res images of the book covers. Images can be used under a Creative Commons license.
MAPP is a collaborative project among six scholars and their students and research assistants from several countries. It was spearheaded by Elizabeth Willson Gordon, The King’s University of Edmonton, Canada; Claire Battershill, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada; Alice Staveley, Stanford University; Helen Southworth, University of Oregon; Michael Widner, Stanford University; Nicola Wilson, University of Reading, Reading, England.
The group will be recruiting students to serve as research assistants to write additional book synopses and literary biographies. The site will eventually include pedagogical resources, including lists of syllabi and assignments using the digital resources available on MAPP.
The new Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP) now available online.
Claire Battershill of Simon Fraser University led conference participants through the MAPP website.
Roundtable participants sit below a screen showing a digitized ledger sheet from the Hogarth Press.
Cressida Bell, granddaughter of Vanessa Bell, designed the cake, which was loaded with chocolate chunks and fruit. Cecil Woolf, nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, shared his memories of working at the Hogarth Press starting in 1931, as well as the history of the business.
The Woolfs’ printing business began with their purchase of a small hand printing press in March of 1917. The couple spotted the press in a printer shop’s window, Cecil said, and purchased it for 19£, five shillings and five pence. It came with a 16-page instruction book, type, cases, and other equipment.
Book and art treats, too
Conference participants who attended the party at the Reading, England Museum of English Rural Life were treated to more than cake and Cecil’s charming talk. They were also able to purchase specially printed keepsake editions of Virginia’s 1924 article “The Patron and the Crocus.” Included in the slim volume is a facsimile reproduction of a reader’s report from the Hogarth Press archives at the University of Reading.
Party-goers were also able to print their own woodcut of the Roger Fry design “The London Garden.”
The Hogarth Press 100th birthday cake, designed by Cressida Bell.
Clara Farmer, publishing director of Hogarth Chatto & Windus, and Cecil Woolf slice the cake.
The Hogarth Press centenary keepsake of “The Patron and the Crocus” offers two different colored letterpress covers.
Martin Andrews of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading patiently helped guests print their own woodcut copies of Roger Fry’s design, “The London Garden.”
Woodcuts hanging to dry at the Hogarth Press 100th birthday party.
Party guests enjoying Cecil Woolf’s reminiscences.
