JACOB'S ROOM

Richmond: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1922. First edition, first impression. Very Good.. Octavo. Original publisher's crocus-yellow cloth boards, white label lettered in black on spine. 290,14pp. 7½ x 5 in.  Published 27 October 1922, only 1200 copies printed at 7s. 6d. Boards are cleaner than usual having been kept in an acetate dust jacket in lieu of the Vanessa Bell wrapper, which is not present on this copy. Spine label darkened and chipped at left edge causing a small loss to the first letter in "JACOB." Top edge trimmed, others uncut. Some little edgewear, crown of spine may have been repaired. Interior clean and unmarked. Paris, December 1922 ownership inscription on first free endpaper of Edith Bone (1889-1975). Bone was a doctor, journalist, and translator who in 1949 was acting as a freelance correspondent in Budapest for the London Daily Worker when she was arrested and accused of spying. Bone was held in solitary confinement without trial for seven years, released in the last days of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 after which she wrote a book about her experience, Seven Years Solitary. More recently, from the collection of R. O. Blechman, an American animator, illustrator, children's-book author, graphic novelist and editorial cartoonist whose work has been the subject of retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions.

Jacob's Room revolves around the life of Jacob Flanders, a young man living in early 20th-century England. Rather than following a conventional narrative structure, the novel presents a fragmented and impressionistic portrayal of Jacob's experiences, thoughts, and relationships. Woolf explores the complexities of identity, gender, an d society through vivid and entirely introspective prose. Jacob's character is shaped through the perspectives of various individuals (some have counted over 120 different named characters in the novel), including family, friends, acquaintances, passersby, as well as through the objects and places associated with him. The novel delves into themes of loss, the passage of time, and the transient nature of life, ultimately painting a poignant portrait of a life cut short by tragedy. Jacob's life is noteworthy for being less of a presence than an absence. KIRKPATRICK A6a; WOOLMER 26.