# Is "Between the Acts" by Virginia Woolf a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf (The Hogarth Press, 1941) is identified by: True first edition published by The Hogarth Press, London, 1941 (posthumous — Woolf died 28 March 1941; Leonard Woolf's prefatory note stating the MS was complete but unrevised at her death is present). True first is the London Hogarth Press edition (Kirkpatrick A26a).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first edition published by The Hogarth Press, London, 1941 (posthumous — Woolf died 28 March 1941
- Leonard Woolf's prefatory note stating the MS was complete but unrevised at her death is present)
- Kirkpatrick A26a: bound in Woolf's characteristic blue / blue-green cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell — the Bell design is the correct first-edition jacket
- Secondary sources disagree on the exact day (some give 17 July, others 7 August 1941); the year, publisher, and edition are not in dispute
- Publisher imprint reads The Hogarth Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Virginia Woolf |
| Publisher | The Hogarth Press |
| Year | 1941 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first edition published by The Hogarth Press, London, 1941 (posthumous — Woolf died 28 March 1941 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first edition published by The Hogarth Press, London, 1941 (posthumous — Woolf died 28 March 1941; Leonard Woolf's prefatory note stating the MS was complete but unrevised at her death is present). Kirkpatrick A26a: bound in Woolf's characteristic blue / blue-green cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell — the Bell design is the correct first-edition jacket. Secondary sources disagree on the exact day (some give 17 July, others 7 August 1941); the year, publisher, and edition are not in dispute.

## Is this the true first?
True first is the London Hogarth Press edition (Kirkpatrick A26a). The first American edition, Harcourt, Brace (New York), followed in October 1941 (Kirkpatrick A26b) and is a first-American / first-thus, not the true first. Census precedence (Hogarth London precedes Harcourt New York) confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No contemporaneous UK book-club issue. The Harcourt Brace New York printing is a later first-thus; it and subsequent Hogarth reprints should not be mistaken for the 1941 London first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Between the Acts* by Virginia Woolf a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/between-the-acts
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.