Jun 22, 2017

TWO STORIES - Virginia Woolf and Mark Haddon

In early 1917, Virginia and Leonard Woolf bought themselves a printing press and installed it in their dining room in Richmond. That year they published their first publication Two Stories, one written by Virginia, The Mark on the Wall and the other written by Leonard, Two Jews. 134 copies were typeset and hand bound in bright Japanese paper by Virginia Woolf and printed by Leonard Woolf.

This year Hogarth Press imprint celebrates its Centenary and in honour of the very first book published back in 1917, we have taken the original text from The Mark on the Wall and are publishing it alongside the new story St Brides Bay written by Mark Haddon.

Two Stories includes many original features from the first edition, including red thread binding of the pages. A new illustration of Virginia Woolf by Mark fits beautifully alongside Dora Carrington’s original illustrations, three of which are also in in the new edition.

Printing has changed a lot in the last 100 years and the Bodleian Library invited us to Oxford for a print-a-thon day to help type set a poem first published in 1919, using the same typeface and a similar press to the one the Woolf’s would have originally used.

The cover illustration of Two Stories is by Ed Kluz who has produced a cover in response to the decorative paper design of the early Hogarth Press titles. He has included motifs in the pattern from both stories within the book.

Published 22nd June

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