Orlando: A Biography.

WOOLF, Virginia. [William Safire].

Item Number: 127330

New York: Crosby Gaige, 1928.

Signed limited first edition of Woolf’s immensely popular feminist classic, one of only 800 copies signed by her in her characteristic purple ink. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, engraved frontispiece portrait of Orlando as a boy, illustrated with engravings. One of 800 copies signed by Woolf on the verso of the half-title page, this is number 90. Typography by Frederic Warde. From the collection of William Safire and previously his father, Oliver Craus Safir with each of their bookplates to the pastedown and Oliver Safir’s ownership signature. William Safire was an important American author, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign in the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. Following Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a presidential speechwriter for both Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. He was a frequent guest on Meet The Press, describing himself as the voice of “libertarian conservatives” and authored several political columns, most notably his weekly column “On Language” which appeared in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death in 2009. He authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In very good condition. With a postcard portrait of Safire tipped in. Rare with noted provenance. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery.

Woolf is considered to be one of the greatest twentieth century novelists and one of the pioneers among modernist writers using stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Following her 1912 marriage to Leonard Woolf, the couple founded the Hogarth Press in 1917, which published much of her work. Arguably one of Woolf's most popular novels, Orlando describes the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies and has been adapted a number of times for stage and screen.