[Hogarth Press | Sibyl Colefax Copy] Poems

Bell, Clive. Poems. Richmond, Surrey: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press, 1921. [One of 350 copies printed by hand by the Woolfs.] Original sewn buff wrappers, the front patterned with a clover design printed in red. 

Two bookplates to the inner front cover, including the small rectangular bookplate of Sibyl & Arthur Colefax. Sibyl Colefax was a prominent British interior decorator and socialite who founded one of the most influential design firms in the early 20th century (later known as Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler.) Beyond her work in design, she had a romantic and emotionally complicated relationship with Virginia Woolf over the span of two decades.

A passage from Woolf's diary (which Woolf later used in her essay "Am I a Snob?") memorably described Colefax as such:

"She talked in a scattered nervous way, like a hen fluttering over the edge of an abyss. . . . Nor could I always distinguish between the pose . . . & the genuine gallantry. She has been too long exposed to artificial light to do without it. She is like a bat in a bright room when she is in darkness. . . . I mean when she is alone, without the stimulus & direction of other peoples views she is uncertain. Flounders. With us it is just the opposite. Friday, Oct. 30, 1936".

Measures approx. 5.25" x 8". Browning and edgewear to covers, spotting to rear cover. Light toning to text.

A fascinating association copy.