# Is "The Voyage Out" by Virginia Woolf a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf (Duckworth & Co., 1915) is identified by: Kirkpatrick & Clarke A1a. The UK Duckworth 1915 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed, including the textual point.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Kirkpatrick & Clarke A1a
- Published 26 March 1915 in an edition of 2,000 copies — the small print run, not a printing statement, is what makes the book scarce
- Bound in original green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt and the upper board lettered in black within a paneled title block
- 458 pp. with the publisher's advertisements and catalogue bound in at the rear
- Reported advertisement counts differ between dealers (22 pp. in one description, 8 pp. plus a 16 pp. catalogue in another), so the ad collation should not be relied on as a discriminating point; the binding and the Duckworth 1915 imprint carry the identification
- Woolf's first book
- Publisher imprint reads Duckworth & Co.

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Virginia Woolf |
| Publisher | Duckworth & Co. |
| Year | 1915 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Kirkpatrick & Clarke A1a |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Kirkpatrick & Clarke A1a. Published 26 March 1915 in an edition of 2,000 copies — the small print run, not a printing statement, is what makes the book scarce. Bound in original green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt and the upper board lettered in black within a paneled title block; 458 pp. with the publisher's advertisements and catalogue bound in at the rear. Reported advertisement counts differ between dealers (22 pp. in one description, 8 pp. plus a 16 pp. catalogue in another), so the ad collation should not be relied on as a discriminating point; the binding and the Duckworth 1915 imprint carry the identification. Woolf's first book.

## Is this the true first?
The UK Duckworth 1915 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed, including the textual point. The first American edition — George H. Doran Company, New York, 1920 — is textually distinct because Woolf revised the novel for it, and both editions are collected. The revision is well evidenced: two copies of the 1915 first survive carrying Woolf's own manuscript alterations made ahead of the American issue, one in a private US collection and one at the University of Sydney, the latter with her notes and deletions in violet ink. The revision was occasioned by the US International Copyright Act of 1891, which required American issues of British books to be reset and printed in the United States rather than printed from British plates — the same mechanism that produced textual divergence across Woolf's American editions generally.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue exists; the title predates the book clubs. The two live traps are precedence and "first thus": the Doran 1920 is regularly offered simply as a "first edition" of The Voyage Out when it is the first AMERICAN edition of a revised text, and later reissues retaining the original setting are catalogued as firsts. Any copy not bearing the Duckworth & Co., London, 1915 imprint is not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Voyage Out* by Virginia Woolf a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-voyage-out
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.