Virginia Woolf’s Flush: scanned images and notes on the text

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Scanned images of the early editions of Flush and notes on the text

This page contains links to scanned images of four early texts of Flush (1933), links to some manuscript sources, a table of variants between the British and American editions, with notes on the history of the text.

The four early texts are these, linked to scanned images:

• The text serialized in four parts in the Atlantic Monthly, July through October 1933
• The first printed (but not the first published) Hogarth Press edition, described as a "New edition, November 1933"
• The first published Hogarth Press edition, October 1933, printed after the first printed edition, with corrections and additional illustrations
• The first American edition, published by Harcourt Brace (1933)

Further details on the book editions:

The Hogarth Press "New edition" of Flush (1933), published November 1933 in the Uniform Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf. This is in fact, except for some pages in the front matter, made up of pages printed for the first impression; these pages were held back when it was decided, in order to conform to the requirements of the Book Society, to charge a higher price for the first edition and to use a larger page size, as Leonard Woolf explained to Donald Brace in a letter of 19 June 1933. The published book included an errata slip, listing corrections already made in the first large-paper impression.  Source of the scan: Internet Archive, supplemented with scans of the endpapers.

The Hogarth Press first published edition (but printed from a corrected second impression) of Flush (1933), described in the book as the "First published, October 1933." (A second impression in October 1933 seems to be unchanged.) The book adds three illustrations to the earlier-printed impression described below, and the drawings were redone by Vanessa Bell to be printed as four illustrations, not as two endpaper spreads. Scanned for this site.

The Harcourt, Brace edition of Flush (1933): Source of the scan: Google Books, supplemented with a few improved page imgaes made for this site.

The first published edition is evidently the most authoritative text, but, as described below, the American edition includes a small number of proof revisions that Virginia Woolf either forgot or rejected when correcting proof for the British edition.

Current texts: No edition now in print includes all ten illustrations from the first edition; the only editions that do so are Elizabeth Steele's out-of-print scholarly 1999 Shakespeare Head Press edition (described below) and Alison Light's out-of-print 2000 Penguin Classics edition. A second scholarly edition, in the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf, is scheduled for publication in July 2026.

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Manuscript sources and uncorrected proofs

The following manuscript sources are in the Berg Collection and may be viewed in scanned images:

• Virginia Woolf's Reading Notebook XXXII
• The Life, Character and Opinions of Flush the Spaniel
• Life, Character and Opinions of Flush 1931
• The Life of Flush 1933

A set of uncorrected proofs of the Hogarth Press edition are in the Smith College Library. Scanned images are posted here.

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Variants between the uncorrected proofs and the earliest printed edition

I used an online service called ILovePDF to compare the uncorrected proofs with the earliest printed edition (the "New Edition") and create a PDF that shows the uncorrected proofs with variants from the printed edition highlighted. The corrected readings in the first printed edition may easily be seen by viewing this PDF side-by-side with the scanned image of the "New Edition."

The comparison-PDF may include "false positives" - reported variants that result from errors in reading the scanned images. It should be used with caution, carefully checking its results against the scanned images of the proofs and the "New Edition."

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Variants between the British and American texts, and notes on textual history

The table below lists verbal variants between the first printed British edition (printed before October 1933, published by the Hogarth Press 16 November 1933) and the first American edition of Flush (published by Harcourt Brace, 5 October 1933).

The first printed edition (UK1) was not the first published edition (UK2). The first printed edition was held back until after a corrected second impression was published in large-paper format, identified on the verso of the title page as “First published, October 1933” and published on 5 October 1933. The first printed edition was trimmed to a smaller size and issued later, in the Uniform Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf, and described on the verso of its replaced copyright page as “New edition, November 1933”. A errata slip tipped into UK1 lists the corrected dates that had been incorporated into the text of UK2.

The page proofs produced by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, are dated 12 through 14 April 1933. Virginia Woolf noted in her diary, 15 April, that she "should be correcting Flush proofs". On 1 May 1933, John Lehmann at the Hogarth Press sent Harcourt Brace two sets of proofs, asking "Will you kindly note that the proof labelled with the name of your firm is the better corrected proof, and the one you should print from." On 29 June 1933, Leonard Woolf sent a telegram to Harcourt Brace correcting the five dates that are also corrected in the Hogarth second impression. This suggests that the first printed edition (which has the erroneous dates) had been printed by the end of June 1933.

One interesting possible conclusion from the table below: The table lists a number of variants in which the Harcourt Brace text matches the Atlantic Monthly text, not the text in the uncorrected proofs sent by John Lehmann on 1 May 1933 to be used as setting copy. This suggests that Harcourt Brace seems to have set its text partly from the Atlantic Monthly version of text, and that it then partly corrected its text to conform to the text of the proofs sent by John Lehmann - but that, in correcting the text, it left some of the Atlantic Monthly readings uncorrected. It is unclear exactly when and how Harcourt would have obtained the Atlantic version.

The table below omits hyphenation and other punctuation variants, and two obvious printer’s errors in the Harcourt edition: “intangibile” for “intangible” and “archfield” for “archfiend”.

The first three columns reflect an electronic comparison of scanned images of the first British printing (UK1) and the first American printing (US).

• UK=p means that the reading in the UK edition is unchanged from the uncorrected proofs, while the US edition shows a revision made in the proof
• UK=p (US revised) means that the US reading, but not the UK reading, has been revised from the uncorrected proofs; Virginia Woolf either reconsidered or forgot these revisions when marking proof for the UK edition
• US=p means that the reading in the US edition is unchanged from the uncorrected proofs, while the UK edition shows a revision made in proof
• US=A means that the US edition reading is the same as the Atlantic Monthly reading, while the UK edition is either unchanged from the proofs (in which case UK=p is also noted) or a revision made in proof; in one instance, as noted, the US edition follows the Atlantic text with one change
• US=A,p means that the US reading is the same as both the Atlantic reading and the reading in the uncorrected proofs
• (US error) means that the US text seems to be the result of a printing error
• A blank cell in the Notes column means that both the UK and US readings are revised from the reading in the uncorrected proofs

UK pg:ln	UK1 = first Hogarth printing	US = first Harcourt, Brace printing	Notes
9:6	Dha laid it down in his	Dha laid down in his	UK=p (US error?)
11:20-21	coronet, and then they say you are not only born, but nobly	coronet, and then you are not only born they say, but nobly
13:14	no calling cousins with the Mitfords	no claim to kinship with the Mitfords	US=p
18:20	if one is lucky enough to have one,	if one is so lucky enough as to have one,	US=p
19:16	No. 50	number fifty	US=p
22:9	penurious fries	penurious frys	US=p
28:13-14	eau-de-Cologne still affected his nostrils disagreeably, when	eau de cologne still lacerated his nostrils, when	US=A
30:13	he stopped, amazed; defining, savouring,	he stopped, amazed; smelling, savouring,	UK=p (US error)
33:2-3	among dogs: some dogs are high dogs; some are low.	among dogs: there are high dogs and low dogs.
54:8	they were hostile, severe.	they were alien, severe	UK=p US=A
55:15	he felt. Miss Barrett no longer	he felt. She no longer	US=A
63:26-64:1	break brilliant, blowing red	break brilliant, glowing red	UK=p (US error)
67:9	for ever. Things are not simple	for ever. But things are not simple	US=A
71:9	the 12th of September	the 1st of September	See note 1
75:1	respectability was this squalor. But there	respectability was this filth. But there	US=A
75:22	their trade all day in the West	their trade in the West	UK=p US=A
76:10-11	with St. Giles’s were well known. St. Giles’s stole	with St. Giles’s were laid down. St. Giles’s stole	UK=P US=A
77:19	the 2nd September	the 1st September	See note 1
79:23-24	flustered and fluttered its way	flustered and dashed its way	US=A
80:23	the 3rd September	the 2nd September	See note 1
83:3	the 4th of September	the 3rd of September	See note 1
87:7-8	why write all this string	why write this string
87:12	easy it would have been	easy it could have been	(US error?)
89:19-20	cows are herded under bedroom floors, where	cows are herded under the bedroom floor, where	US=A
90:21-22	from the cab. Mr. Taylor had her dog, she said; Mr. Taylor had promised	from the cab. She said Mr. Taylor had her dog; Mr. Taylor had promised	US=A
90:24-25	Here was the familiar avenue of doors and win­dows: the pointed brick	Here were the familiar doors and windows: the ave­nue of pointed brick	US~=A (A has “white brick”)
92:5-6	later when she sat writing on a sunny	later when she was sitting on a sunny	US=A
92:14	as they had never chattered to	as they had chattered to	US=A,p
93:22	sight of the archfiend actually in	sight of the archfiend Taylor actually in	US=A,p
94:18-19	good humour” he would go	good humour” that he would go
95:21	Flush had been at their mercy	Flush had lain at their mercy	US=A
96:2	only a shelter. It was only a dell	only a shelter; only a dell	UK=p (US revised)
96:15	friendly faces was treachery	friendly faces were treachery	UK=p
98:17	seemed to look at nothing. She drew	seemed to notice nothing. She drew	US=p
98:18	moment he saw a gold band shine	a moment he saw a gold ring shine
98:23-25	for whatever had happened, it was something that must at all costs be concealed	for whatever had happened, and something had happened, it must at all costs be con­cealed.	UK=p
99:20-21	nobody else seemed to notice anything.	But nobody else noticed anything	US=p
100::1-3	leaves in the darkness, in a vast forest; then the leaves were parted and he woke. It was dark; but he saw Wilson	leaves in a vast forest; then the leaves were parted and he woke. It was dark; but in the darkness he saw Wilson	US=A
100:6	19th of September	18th of September	See note 1
100:19-20	more such movements to come to them; but to Miss Barrett	more such moments to come to them; but for Miss Barrett	See note 2
105:7	that distinguish Pisa—for it was	that distinguish Pisa—it was	US=A
108:5	Here in Italy was freedom and life	Here in Italy were freedom and life	US=A
114:22	Grand Duke was somehow exaggerated	Grand Duke was exaggerated	US=A
116:7	moved a bed and that she opened	moved a bed and she opened	US=A
118:3-5	he was left completely alone; nobody came into the drawing­-room. He lay	he was left completely alone. He lay	US=A
118:18-20	both seeing the invisible presence that he felt. Their eyes were oddly glazed. | At last	both seeing the invisible presence that he felt. | At last	UK=p (US revised)
122:4	scene that stirred him. Beauty,	scene that stirred him, not beauty. Beauty
122:16-17	than two words and one-half for what	than two words and perhaps one-half for what	US=p
126:23	he heard a man lay	he heard one man lay	US=p
128:20	perhaps of the Greeks saying	perhaps of the Greek saying
129:17	that lesson for himself. But	that lesson at last. But	US=A
131:9-10	the public-house; they welcomed	the public-house; and they welcomed	US=p
134:14-15	with one frown he turned	with one frown, with one stare, he turned	US=p
146:2	droning in the sky	droning in the air	US=A
146:25	the ecstasies, the innocences	the ecstasies and innocences	US=A
149:8-9	as he came in. No, it was not a	as he came in. It was not a	UK=p (US revised)
149:16-150:1	was very unhappy. Now she was happy.	was very unhappy. Years had passed; now she was happy.	UK=p US=A
151:8-9	Elizabeth Barrett Barrett	Elizabeth Barrett Browning	UK=p (See note 3)
154:20-21	it suffers from distortion	it suffers from the distortion	UK=p (See note 3)
160:28	from a top storey window	from a top window	US=p
162:14-15	Lytton believed himself	Lytton thought himself	US=p

Note 1: The corrected dates in the US edition also appear in the second UK impression (the first published edition).

Note 2: “movements” is clearly an error, possibly introduced by VW when correcting proof for the British edition, but not when correcting for the American edition; the phrase is not in the uncorrected proofs, and VW would have had to write it into each set of proofs separately.

Note 3: Variant not recorded in Elizabeth Steele’s edition.