In her essay “On Cookbooks: Collections and Recollection,” Alice Lowe travels through the decades, from her first casseroles to Julia and Jacques, from Betty Crocker to Virginia Woolf.
In it, she shares her love for Woolf and her thoughts on Woolf and food.
Here’s a teaser: “My time in England launched and nurtured my interest in Virginia Woolf; my retirement has enabled my studies and published work on her life and writing. Books by and about Woolf have increased as cookbooks decline. The Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for Life, Love and Art weds literature and artwork by Woolf, her sister Vanessa Bell, and others of the legendary Bloomsbury circle, with anecdotes and stories, recipes and repasts both real and fictional. I haven’t allocated it to a shelf yet—is it a Woolf book or a cookbook?”
Here are some books to add to your list for either giving or receiving this holiday season:
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar, Ballantine, 2015, $26. A novel featuring intimate glimpses into the lives of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, as well as other writers and artists in the Bloomsbury Group. Stay tuned for Blogging Woolf’s review.
The Other Shakespeare by Lea Rachel, Writer’s Design, 2015, $8.96. A novel that brings Judith, Woolf’s imagined sister of William Shakespeare, to life. Stay tuned for Blogging Woolf’s review.
The Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for Life, Love and Art, by Jans Ondaatje Rolls, Thames & Hudson, 2014, $39.95. An extensive compilation of recipes and social history of the Bloomsbury Group that includes artwork, quotes, letters and personal reminiscences.
Mrs. Dalloway, edited by Anne Fernald, 2014, $150. Part of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf. This labor of love provides a substantial introduction, including the composition history of the novel, documenting how Woolf’s reading, writing, personal life and the world around her contributed to the book. Explanatory notes compile decades of scholarship while identifying numerous new allusions to Homer, Shakespeare, Tennyson and others.
For a catalog of rare books related to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, contact Jon S. Richardson Rare Books at yorkharborbooks@aol.com. Richardson founders Jon and Margaret Richardson have made hunting down the works of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group their mission since opening York Harbor Books more than 20 years ago. Among other interesting offerings, including Hogarth Press advertising flyers, the Holiday 2014 list includes:
A first American edition (1931) of Mrs. Dalloway with the Vanessa Bell dust jacket, $950.
A first edition of The Common Reader (1925), published by the Hogarth Press, $585
A 1910 edition of the Life & Letters of Leslie Stephen, which includes Woolf’s first appearance in print, $95.
Joyce Muirhead of the Woolf Plaque Supporters has provided Blogging Woolf with the following report on Saturday’s unveiling of the blue plaque at the Frome Railway Station to memorialize Leonard Woolf’s 11 January 1912 journey to London where he proposed to Virginia Stephen. Blogging Woolf readers helped fund the plaque.
They came. From Huntington, Cambridge, Bristol, Broadway, Worcestershire, from Cheshire and of course many from London, including Bloomsbury, driving for two, three or four hours across country on a damp chilly late November day to honour the memory of a journey made by Leonard Woolf from Frome Railway Station to London, Paddington to propose marriage to Virginia Stephen.
Cecil Woolf and Jean Moorcroft Wilson at Frome Station after the unveiling of the blue plaque commemorating Leonard Woolf’s proposal to Virginia Stephen.
Nicholas Reid gave an accomplished speech mentioning that as manager of many stations on the Heart of Wessex line, Frome is a favourite. He elucidated the history and iconic status of Frome Station, with its unique shed style, within the national rail network. He briefly outlined the trials in achieving all necessary permissions to erecting the plaque, despite renewal of franchise, total refurbishment of the station and the worst floods in living memory. He hoped that it would encourage passengers, glimpsing the plaque as they journeyed to and from the coast, to stop off and visit Frome.
Cecil Woolf gave a vivid and lively speech, in spite of his eye operation only two days previously and his three-hour drive through difficult traffic conditions, and spoke movingly and affectionately of his uncle and aunt, Leonard and Virginia. He talked of their first meeting, of Leonard’s reaction to her astonishing beauty, of their courtship and of Leonard’s recollections of Frome half a century later. He read from the letter Leonard Woolf wrote from The Rectory at Great Elm, which expressed his turmoil and exhaustion of that day and he went on to speak of their subsequent marriage and the many extraordinary achievements that their partnership produced. He then unveiled the plaque to enthusiastic applause.
Graham Muirhead, as chairman of the Woolf Plaque Supporters, the group responsible for raising the funds and organising the event, thanked Cecil Woolf, Nicholas Reid and his colleagues from First Great Western, three successive mayors and the town council, the donors and the Societies who had contributed so generously and travelled so far for their support. Finally, he expressed the hope that the plaque would inspire others to set out on their own journeys and to explore this rich vein of literature.
After photographs, the arrival of the next train signalled a move to the Cheese & Grain hall where Lotty Evans produced a delicious afternoon tea inspired by the Bloomsbury Cook Book. It provided a fitting finish to a thoroughly successful and enjoyable afternoon while people chatted and looked at the display of quotations and photographs.
Those attending the unveiling included: Mrs Sheila Wilkinson co-founder and vice chair of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain and her husband David; Dr Surendra Paul, chairman, Leonard Woolf Society; Nathan Sivasambu, co-ordinator, Ceylon Bloomsbury Group; Dr. Jane Russell and Seneca Weeraman, Leonard Woolf Society members; Martin Bax M.B.E., chairman of trustees, Rook Lane Chapel; Dr Emma Robinson, chairman, Frome Heritage Museum; Councillor Peter MacFadyen, Mayor of Frome; and members of the Woolf Plaque Supporters.
A Bloomsbury cookbook promising a combination of food, life, love and art, will be available in hardcover on April 22.
The Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for Life, Love and Art by Jans Ondaatje Rolls offers more than 180 recipes — some handwritten and never before published — from Frances Partridge, Helen Anrep and David and Angelica Garnett. The recipes, according to publisher Thames & Hudson, promise to “take us into the very heart” the world of the Bloomsbury Group by recreating mealtime atmospheres at locations such as Monk’s House, Charleston Farmhouse and Gordon Square.
The publisher is billing the book as more than a cookbook. Its photographs, letters, journals and paintings will contribute a social history angle as well. It is priced at £24.95.
