# Is "Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Hogarth Press, 1925) is identified by: Hogarth Press 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a), printed by R. Hogarth London 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a) is the true first; Harcourt, Brace New York 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9b) is the first US.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Hogarth Press 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a), printed by R. & R. Clark of Edinburgh in an impression of 2,000 copies
- Bound in the publisher's dark red (maroon) cloth with the title gilt-lettered on the spine
- The scarce first-issue dust jacket carries Vanessa Bell's floral-bouquet design and is integral to the first impression
- A second impression of 1,000 copies followed in November 1925
- The UK first precedes the US Harcourt, Brace edition of the same year
- Publisher imprint reads Hogarth Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Virginia Woolf |
| Publisher | Hogarth Press |
| Year | 1925 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Hogarth Press 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a), printed by R. & R. Clark of Edinburgh in an impression of 2,000 copies |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Hogarth Press 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a), printed by R. & R. Clark of Edinburgh in an impression of 2,000 copies. Bound in the publisher's dark red (maroon) cloth with the title gilt-lettered on the spine. The scarce first-issue dust jacket carries Vanessa Bell's floral-bouquet design and is integral to the first impression. A second impression of 1,000 copies followed in November 1925. The UK first precedes the US Harcourt, Brace edition of the same year.

## Is this the true first?
Hogarth London 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9a) is the true first; Harcourt, Brace New York 1925 (Kirkpatrick A9b) is the first US. The original Vanessa Bell jacket is integral to a complete Hogarth first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Hogarth impressions (the November 1925 second impression onward) and US reprints lack the first-impression standing and, in the case of reprints, the original Bell jacket; any number line or post-1925 date rules out the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mrs Dalloway* by Virginia Woolf a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mrs-dalloway
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.