“My Fingers are like Cauliflowers:” the Material Productions of the Hogarth Press
On Virginia Woolf’s 33rd birthday, she and Leonard Woolf made three significant decisions over tea: they would purchase a house in Richmond, acquire a bulldog named John, and buy a printing press. Of these aspirations, Woolf was most excited about the printing press, which they eventually purchased two years later (they did buy the house, but never acquired the dog). This 1917 acquisition marked the inception of the Hogarth Press. Initially a hobby, the press evolved into a full-fledged business, spanning 29 years and providing the Woolfs with a secondary income stream.
What is particularly intriguing about the Hogarth Press, when examined retrospectively, is the seeming degree of self-unawareness at its inception. The Woolfs’ “naivety” (parentheticals mine) about the intricacies of fine, private printing and publishing paradoxically contributed to their success. Benefitting from the resurgence of craftsmanship championed by William Morris’s Kelmscott Press and the Arts and Crafts Movement, which, as Colin Franklin argues in The Private Presses (1991), allowed artists to assume complete control over the printing process—“designing, printing, thinking it out again from the first ordering of materials to the design of new type faces”—the Woolfs’ DIY aesthetic proved advantageous, allowing their books to sell widely and quickly. In fact, Woolf writes to friend Roger Fry that they were “in a welter of Hogarth Press affairs,” and as a result, her “fingers are like cauliflowers from addressing envelopes” (See V. Woolf to Roger Fry, U of Sussex, SxMs18 Monks House Papers Letters III: Virginia Woolf, Farrell-Lubbock labelled box 72, Folder Fry, Roger). By 1919, they were producing second editions and outsourcing larger print runs to local jobbing printers; for example, the second impression of Kew Gardens (1919) was printed by Richard Madley.
However, despite their early successes, some scholars classify their early printed works as amateur, sloppy, or, more harshly, so poorly done that it posed an “offensive barrier to enjoying the contents of the books.” However, I suggest that their early works, though very handmade in quality, were intentionally crafted in this aesthetic.
During the first five years of the Press (from 1917 to 1921/22) the Woolfs managed the entire book production process (typesetting, inking, printing, and binding) as well as the marketing process, including sourcing materials, advertising, and circulation—despite having little to no prior knowledge in either domain (Woolf had some experience in bookbinding from her childhood, albeit at a rather rudimentary level). This was very uncommon, as most small, private presses, even those adhering to a similar handmade look, still outsourced at least one portion of the book production process.
T.S. Eliot, Ara Vus Prec (London: Ovid Press, 1920)
The Hogarth Press’s success also starkly contrasts with other contemporary presses producing similar works, often of higher craftsmanship, which failed. For instance, John Rodker’s Ovid Press (1919–1920), renowned for its use of handmade J Whatman paper, cloth spines, colored boards, and intricate typography, published works by renowned authors like T. S. Eliot. Despite its high-quality productions, the Ovid Press went bankrupt within a year. Similarly, Harriet Shaw Weaver’s Egoist Press (1916–1923), which shared a handmade aesthetic akin to Hogarth’s, also failed to turn a significant profit.
The distinguishing feature of the Hogarth Press, I argue, lies not only in the authenticity of their entirely handmade publications but also in their rudimentary binding and covers. Their books were bound with bright paper wrappers, often repurposed from discarded wallpaper, and hand-painted by friends from the Omega Workshops. These bindings were held together with thread, glue, or staples, making the books resemble political pamphlets or ephemeral booklets rather than traditional literary publications. This stood in stark contrast to the high-end, outsourced productions of presses like Ovid and Egoist. Consequently, the materiality of Hogarth Press works imbued them with a unique aura absent from other publications. Each book bore the tangible imprints of the Woolfs’ labor, making every publication unique. This authenticity and personal touch resonated with readers, setting the Hogarth Press apart in the literary market.
Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Two Stories (Richmond: Hogarth Press, 1917)
Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s entry into the publishing world was not driven by a commercial agenda but by a desire for creative freedom and control over their work and that of their friends. Unlike other presses that aimed to produce aesthetically impeccable books with the finest materials, the Woolfs focused on the content and the process, embracing imperfections as part of their charm. For instance, their first publication, Two Stories (1917), which includes one story by Leonard Woolf and one by Virginia Woolf, established the tone for what would become a distinctive and influential press. This small, handmade book, featuring roughly printed woodcuts by Dora Carrington, varied Japanese Vellum paper covers, and simple typography starkly contrasted with the opulent woodcut letter devices by Edward Wadsworth found in many Ovid Press publications. While this difference might suggest that the Woolfs prioritized the dissemination of ideas over creating collector’s items, I argue that this distinctive ephemeral form reflects a sense of nostalgia associated with childhood periodicals, paper magazines, and newspapers, such as Woolf's involvement with the Hyde Park Gate News as a child. Furthermore, their deliberate handmade approach indicates a keen understanding of their audience, resonating with a post–World War I readership disillusioned with grandiose displays of wealth and power and more interested in substance and authenticity.
The success of the Hogarth Press was also due in part to the literary community that surrounded the Woolfs. As central figures in the Bloomsbury Group, they had access to a network of writers, artists, and intellectuals who contributed to their publications. This gave the Press a steady stream of high-quality content and a built-in audience. Early contributors included T. S. Eliot, who published Poems (1919) and The Waste Land (1923) with the Hogarth Press, and Katherine Mansfield’s Prelude (1918), whose works were among the Press’s early successes. As a result, the Woolfs leveraged these social connections in their marketing tactics and established a two-tiered subscription system. “List A” circulated one copy of each publication to its subscribers, while “List B” allowed subscribers to request multiple copies of each publication. This approach enabled the Woolfs to build a loyal following early on, ensuring consistent sales of their publications.
Two Stories, title page
The combination of innovative content and distinctive form established the Hogarth Press as a significant cultural force, influencing not only the literary world but also the broader realm of twentieth-century art and thought. Hogarth Press went on to publish seminal works by Sigmund Freud, Woolf’s landmark essay, A Room of One’s Own, and the first English translations of major Russian works including Maksim Gorky’s Reminiscences of Leo Nicolayevitch Tolstoi along with works by Bunin and Dostoyevski. Despite its increasing commercial success, the Woolfs never lost sight of their artistic goals, and they maintained a delicate balance between financial viability and creative integrity—a feat that many other presses struggled to achieve. For example, after phasing out the paper wrapper covers, the Press introduced dust jackets to their new hardbound texts, often designed by well-known artists such as Vanessa Bell, John Banting, Richard Kennedy, and E. McKnight Kauffer. This underscored the Woolfs’ continued engagement in the design process, specifically regarding binding and external visuals.
Irrespective of whether the Woolfs’ primary focus lay on the visual aesthetics of their books or prioritizing “the text above all,” their early works using their initial handpress marked the first instance where the Woolfs, and specifically Virginia, directly delved into the materiality of their fictional works and were “independent publishers […] not constrained to and by words,” achieving full editorial freedom, cementing the Hogarth Press in literary history.
Reanna Brooks is a DPhil candidate in English at the University of Oxford, specializing in the material production processes at the Hogarth Press and their influence on Virginia Woolf's early works. Her research explores how typesetting, binding, and printing affected Woolf's writing and editing. Reanna has published with The Modernist Review and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project and has presented at the British Association for Modernist Studies International Conference and the New Work in Modernist Studies Conference. Connect with her on Twitter/X @123REANNA.