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The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of
Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...
that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors
Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...
and
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
and now in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
), in which they began hand-printing books as a hobby during the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
. Hogarth originally published the works of many members of the
Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...
, and was at the forefront of publishing works on
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
and translations of foreign, especially Russian, works. In 1938, Virginia Woolf relinquished her interest in the business and it was then run as a partnership by Leonard Woolf and John Lehmann until 1946, when it became an associate company of
Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...
. In 2011, Hogarth Press was relaunched as an imprint for contemporary fiction in a partnership between Chatto & Windus in the United Kingdom and
Crown Publishing Group The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...
in the United States, which had both been acquired by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
.


History

Printing began as a hobby for the Woolfs, and it provided a diversion for Virginia when writing became too stressful. The couple bought a handpress in 1917 for £19 (equivalent to about £1295 in 2018) and taught themselves how to use it. The press was set up in the dining room of Hogarth House, where the Woolfs lived, lending its name to the publishing company they founded. In July they published their first text, a book with one story written by Leonard and the other written by Virginia. From these origins as a 'little press', by the late 1920s the Hogarth Press had become a larger operation, using commercial printers and distributing to an international readership, with some of its bestsellers printed in the tens of thousands. Between 1917 and 1946 the Press published 527 titles. It moved to Tavistock Square in 1924.


Series

The Hogarth Press produced a number of publication series that were affordable as well as being attractively bound and printed, and usually commissioned from well known authors. These include the initial ''Hogarth Essays'' in three series 1924–1947 (36 titles), ''Hogarth Lectures on Literature'' (2 series 1927–1951), ''Merttens Lectures on War and Peace'' (8 titles 1927–1936), '' Hogarth Living Poets'' (29 titles 1928–1937), ''Day to Day Pamphlets'' (1930–1939), ''Hogarth Letters'' (12 titles 1931–1933) and ''World-Makers and World-Shakers'' (4 titles 1937). The ''Essays'' were the first series produced by the press and include works by
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
,
Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...
and Gertrude Stein. Virginia Woolf's defence of
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, '' Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown'' (1924) was the initial publication in the series. Cover illustrations were by Woolf’s sister
Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...
. Bell also designed book jackets for all of Woolf’s books that were published by Hogarth Press. The ''Letters'' are less well known, and are epistolary in form. Authors include E.M. Forster and Virginia Woolf. Woolf's '' A Letter to a Young Poet'' (1932), was number 8, and addressed to John Lehmann as an exposition on modern poetry. Cover illustrations were by John Banting. In 1933, the entire series was reissued as a single volume, and are available on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
in a 1986 edition. # A letter to Madam Blanchard, E. M. Forster (1931) # A letter to an M.P. on disarmament, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1931) # A letter to a sister, Rosamond Lehmann (1931) # The French pictures: a letter to Harriet, Robert Mortimer and John Banting (1932) # A letter from a black sheep, Francis Birrell (1932) # A letter to
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
, L. A. G. Strong (1932) # A letter to a grandfather,
Rebecca West Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...
(1933) # A letter to a young poet, Virginia Woolf (1932) # A letter to a modern novelist,
Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among ...
(1932) # A letter to an archbishop, J. C. Hardwick (1932) # A letter to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, Louis Golding (1932) # A letter to Mrs. Virginia Woolf, Peter Quennell (1932)


Notable title history

*'' Paris: A Poem'' (1920) by Hope Mirrlees *''Twelve Original Woodcuts (1921) a portfolio by
Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and art critic, critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent ...
hand-printed by the Woolfs. *'' Monday or Tuesday'' (1921) by Virginia Woolf, with
woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s by
Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...
*'' Jacob's Room'' (1922) by Virginia Woolf; the first of her novels published by The Hogarth Press *'' The Devils'' (1922) by Dostoyevsky – co-translated by Virginia Woolf *'' The Waste Land'' by T. S. Eliot (1923) – first UK book edition *''The Common Reader'' (1925) by Virginia Woolf *''Karn'' (1922) and ''Martha Wish-You-Ill'' (1926) – poetry by Ruth Manning-Sanders *'' Orlando'' (1928) by Virginia Woolf *''
Living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...
'' (1929) by Henry Green *'' A Room of One's Own'' (1930) by Virginia Woolf *'' The Waves'' (1931) by Virginia Woolf *'' In a Province'' (1934) – first book by Laurens van der Post *'' What I Believe'' (1939) by E. M. Forster *'' Party Going'' (1939) by
Henry Green Henry Green was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke (29 October 1905 – 13 December 1973), an English writer best remembered for the novels ''Party Going'', ''Living (novel), Living,'' and ''Loving (novel), Loving''. He published a total of n ...
*'' Twilight in Delhi'' (1940) by Ahmed Ali *'' Loving'' by
Henry Green Henry Green was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke (29 October 1905 – 13 December 1973), an English writer best remembered for the novels ''Party Going'', ''Living (novel), Living,'' and ''Loving (novel), Loving''. He published a total of n ...
(1945) *'' The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud'' (1956–1974), in collaboration with
Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...
*'' The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis'' (1977) by
Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...
, his first published
Seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some part ...
.


The Hogarth Shakespeare Project

In 2015 Hogarth Press began producing a series of modern retellings of
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
plays, known as the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, for which it hired a variety of authors: # ''The Gap of Time'' (based on ''
The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...
''), Jeanette Winterson (published 2015) # ''Shylock is my Name'' (based on '' The Merchant of Venice''), Howard Jacobson (published 2016) # ''Vinegar Girl'' (based on ''
The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...
''), Anne Tyler (published 2016) # ''Hag-Seed'' (based on ''
The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...
''),
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...
(published 2016) # ''New Boy'' (based on ''
Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
''), Tracy Chevalier (published 2017) # ''Dunbar'' (based on ''
King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
''), Edward St Aubyn (published 2017) # ''Macbeth'' (based on ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
''), Jo Nesbo (published 2018)


References


Bibliography

* * Gaither, Mary E. "The Hogarth Press 1917–1946" pp. xvii–xxxiv in J. Howard Woolmer (1986), ''A checklist of the Hogarth Press 1917–1946'', Woolmer Brotherson Ltd. . * * * Kennedy, Richard. ''A Boy at the Hogarth Press'' (1972. Whittington Press.) Hesperus Press Ltd * * * Spater, George; Parsons, Ian ''A Marriage of True Minds: An Intimate Portrait of Leonard and Virginia Woolf'' (1977. London: J. Cape.) Harvest/HBJ paperback * Willis, J. H. (1992), ''Leonard and Virginia Woolf as Publishers: The Hogarth Press, 1917–41'', University Press of Virginia. . * * * Woolmer, J. Howard. "Publications of The Hogarth Press" pp. 3–178 in J. Howard Woolmer (1986), ''A checklist of the Hogarth Press 1917–1946'', Woolmer Brotherson Ltd. . * Woolmer, J. Howard. ''A Checklist of the Hogarth Press, 1917–1938'' (1976) ith a short history of the press by Mary E. GaitherWoolmer/Brotherson, 1986, 250 p.: (compar
''Hogarth Press Publications, 1917–1946''
at Duke University Library that uses the numbering of the Woolmer publication)


External links


The Modernist Archives Publishing Project - Digitised materials from the Hogarth Press archive, including editorial correspondence, publisher's ephemera, book dust jackets, plus author bios of Hogarth Press authors

A detailed account of the Hogarth Press at the Yale Modernism Lab


which features all the Hogarth Press books hand-printed by Leonard and Virginia Woolf including many variant issues, bindings and proof copies. (Records for each item can be found in the University of Toronto Library Catalogue.)
Archives of The Hogarth Press
at Archives Hub
The Hogarth Shakespeare Project Website
{{Authority control 1917 establishments in England Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1917 Media and communications in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Organisations based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Publishing companies based in London Publishing companies established in 1917 Random House Richmond, London Small press publishing companies Virginia Woolf