Between the Acts

Second English Edition. Foolscap 8vo. Pp. 152, [1, advert], [1, blank], [6, adverts]. Stiff white paper wraps printed in orange and black. First Penguin edition, no. 896 in its Main Series, published 18 September 1953 at a price of 2/- [front cover]. 1/35,000 copies printed by Hunt, Barnard and Co Ltd.

Tanned page margins, scattered foxing to rear cover, else Very Good.

A play within a play set in an English country house prior to the outbreak of World War II. It is the height of summer and preparations for the village's annual pageant are in full swing. Woolf's last novel published posthumously, and in her own opinion, "more quintessential" than any of her others, which she "enjoyed writing almost every page". Manuscript completed, but not finally revised for the printer, at the time of her death. "She would not, I believe, have made any large or material alterations in it, though she would probably have made a good many small corrections or revisions before passing the final proofs." [From the short introductory note by Leonard Woolf.]

[Kirkpatrick A26a; Woolmer 488]