Woolf, Virginia--Paston, John, Margaret and family.

8vo, 4 volumes ("Introduction and Supplement" and 3 volumes of the Letters), new expanded edition, Virginia Woolf's copy, first volume of the Letters signed by her on the front endpaper ("Virginia Stephen | 1905"), frontispieces, advertisements, original blue cloth, spine labels, top edges gilt, preserved in two blue cloth folding boxes, first gathering of first volume detached, upper hinge of same volume partially broken, spine labels slightly chipped, some wear to cloth

Virginia Woolf, ownership signature; inherited by her husband Leonard Woolf upon her death in 1941; bequeathed to his close friend Trekkie Parsons upon his death in 1969 [typed note by Trekkie Parsons (1902-95)  from Juggs Corner in Sussex, dated 1994, confirming provenance, loosely inserted in each volume]

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Virginia Woolf's own set of the revised 1872-5 edition of the celebrated collection of letters and papers (1472-1509) associated with the gentry Paston family.

Virginia Woolf's strong interest in the Paston Letters is known from her 1925 Common Reader essay "The Pastons and Chaucer", but clearly her interest began at a much earlier stage, judging from the date of her ownership signature here, and also some evidence in letters from the time: "I am writing 2 large works; one upon the letters of the Paston family; the other upon the nature and characteristics of the county of Cornwall...", she wrote to Violet Dickinson at the end of August 1904. There was then a break, and she revisited the idea of a composition in 1921 and 1922, partly at the same time as she was writing Mrs Dalloway. Most interesting to Woolf, it seems, were Mrs Paston's own letters in the collection, and the picture they painted of the position of women and young girls in the society of the time

"The long, long, letters which she wrote so laboriously in her clear cramped hand to her husband, who was (as usual) away, make no mention of herself. The sheep had wasted the hay. Heyden's and Tuddenham's men were out. A dyke had broken and a bullock broken...But Mrs Paston did not talk about herself...[...] But in all this there is no writing to writing's sake; no use of the pen to convey pleasure or amusement or any of the million shades of endearment and intimacy which had filled so many English letters since. Only occasionally, under stress of anger for the most part, does Margaret Paston quicken into some shrewd saw or solemn curse..."
(Virginia Woolf, "The Pastons and Chaucer", 1925)