Books of Lesbian Interest

The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall with commentary by Havelock Ellis
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
London, UK

Year


 		1928 1st edition       
Cover / size: hardback / h 22.7 cm * w 15.8 cm / 512 pp

Dustjacket?   no

ISBN: n/a

Arbery Ref:   001137

Condition Fair to Good

[Rare first edition, with misprint "Whip" (for "Whips") on page 50, line 13, see picture]
Boards (black with indented gilt lettering): top edges dented, tear at spine, corners dented and rubbed through; some marks to front and back; bottom edges less damaged, but corners curved and rubbed; Cape's logo indented into back. Very slight lean forward. Front endpapers slightly browned; rear endpapers more browned and some wear / thinning. Page edges unevenly cut. Binding tight except at title page. Some spotting throughout, most noticeably on early and late pages.

Price £875.00
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Hall: The Well of Loneliness (first edition)

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Plot / Content:                              Rating: L

The Well of Loneliness follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" (that is, homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as having a debilitating effect on inverts. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence".

There is a lengthy article about the novel and the circumstances surrounding its 1928 publication and subsequent banning by the English courts (which included an order to the publisher to destroy remaining copies) on Wikipedia. This copy is one of that first edition which escaped destruction.



Background / Biography:

Radclyffe Hall (Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall: 12 August 1880 - 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author. continued on Wikipedia

For other books by Radclyffe Hall, click here





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Quote from this book
"Not very far from Upton-on-Severn - between it, in fact, and the Malvern Hills - stands the country seat of the Gordons of Bramley; well-timbered, well-cottaged, well-fenced and well-watered, having, in this latter respect, a stream that forms exactly the right position to feed two large lakes in the grounds.

 The house itself is of Georgian red brick, with charming circular windows near the roof. It has dignity and pride without ostentation, self-assurance without arrogance, repose without inertia; and a gentle aloofness that, to those who know its spirit, but adds to its value as a home. It is indeed like certain lovely women who, now old, belong to a bygone generation - women who in youth were passionate but seemly; difficult to win but when won, all-fulfilling. They are passing away, but their homesteads remain, and such an homestead is Morton."
opening paragraphs


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