WOOLF, Virginia.

£3,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Typed letter signed, to Alfred Cecil Piper. Woolf writes to the librarian Alfred Cecil Piper (1883-1973), declining an invitation to speak at the Rotary Club in Richmond: "unfortunately I am unable to make speeches, and for some time past have therefore refused all invitations to do so". The letter includes one correction in Woolf's hand, amending "way" to "away" in the second line.The letter was written while Woolf was living with Leonard in Sussex, writing what would become The Years (1937). Though she had not lived in Richmond since 1924, she writes fondly to Piper of her time there: "May I take the opportunity of saying how much I used to enjoy the library at Richmond when, some years ago, we were living there?"Piper worked as a librarian in Surrey and Sussex, and was also a writer on bibliography and local history. His published works include an article on "The Booksellers and Printers of Richmond, Surrey" (1932), in which the Woolfs and the Hogarth Press are mentioned. He also wrote local history books, including A History of the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, Richmond (1947) and Alfriston: The Story of a Sussex Downland Village (1970), about the picturesque village a short walk south-east of Monk's House and Charleston.The letter is published in The Uncollected Letters of Virginia Woolf (2025), edited by Stephen Barkway and Stuart N. Clarke, on pages 699-701.

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