The Common Reader: First Series & Second Series

1. The Common Reader. First series. Second edition. 1925. Light blue cloth boards titled over white paper label to spine, age toned and darkened to spine. Text block unmarked, square and sound. 305pp.

2. The Common Reader. Second series. First edition. 1932. Green cloth boards titled in gilt to spine, age toned, square and sound. Text block unmarked. 270pp. Front panel and inner flap of original dust jacket remain, colours vibrant, chipped with loss to top corners. Laid in is a Hogarth Press ‘Works of Virginia Wolf’ leaflet in very good condition.

Most of the essays in both volumes of The Common Reader appeared originally in such publications as the Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, Athenæum, New Statesman, Life and Letters, Dial, Vogue, and The Yale Review. The title indicates Woolf’s intention that her essays be read by the ‘common reader’ who reads books for personal enjoyment.