Elizabeth Taylor Acquisitions

I've done rather well with Elizabeth Taylor over the last couple of weeks. Shortly before Easter, Sophie from Virago sent me the latest VMC, The soul of kindness (number 552) Virago are slowly reissuing the Elizabeth Taylor novels which I think is fantastic as they definitely deserve to reach a new audience. However, I am a big fan of the original green editions of the VMCs and am slowly acquiring a set of them - I spotted these two pristine books, Angel and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremount, two of her best works in my opionion, in Oxfam last week. I now have 5 of them; it will be a slow process to collect them as I am resisting buying them from Amazon, and just looking out for them in charity shops. Finally, I did treat myself with some birthday money to the 30th Anniversary hardback of A game of hide and seek. Lovely!

I have already read all of Taylor's books, so I am not quite sure about how I will blog about them, but I am looking forward to having a look at all of the different covers used.

(I have acquired some other VMCs since I last did an Acquisitions post, which you can read about on my other blog here...)

Three sisters (Sinclair) 74

Kindly lent to me by Simon T from Stuck in a Book, it turned out that I had actually already read Three sisters by May Sinclair, before embarking on this challenge. But it is such an intriguing and well written read that I actually sat down and enjoyed reading it again!

In a setting very similar to that of the Bronte's in Haworth, the book tells the story of three sisters, Mary, Gwenda and Ally who live with their unpleasant vicar father in a rectory. It is a desolate existence in the Yorkshire village of Garth with nothing much to look forward to:
" "Is it ten yet?" "No". Mary smile, but the word shuddered in her throat like a weary moan. "How long?" "Forty-three minutes" "Oh, Lord...." Gwenda laughed the laugh of brave nerves tortured. From her sofa beyond the table Alice sighed. At ten o'clock Essy Gale, the maid-servant, would come in from the kitchen and the Vicar from the inner room. And Essy would put the Bible and Prayer-book on the table, and the Vicar would read Prayers. That was all they were waiting for. It was all that could happen. It happened every night at ten o'clock".

But the sisters all have dreams, predominantly centring around finding a husband since that seems to be the only means of escape from constant service in Sunday schools and daily prayers. When an eligible young man, the new doctor, Steven Rowcliffe arrives in the village. Of course all three of the sisters are interested in attracting his attention, to the extent that one makes herself physically ill. It's certainly not a light-hearted "search for a husband Jane Austen-esque" read.

It's an extremely powerful novel, and having read May Oliver: a life, I am now looking forward to the other Sinclair VMC, which is The life and death of Harriet Frean.

It's just been published once by Virago with an original green cover.

Bobbin up (Hewett) 172

Bobbin up, by Dorothy Hewett, turned out to be a rather successful random ebay purchase. I often look through the ebay listings for Virago Modern Classics and pick titles that I haven't heard of if they don't cost too much money, and this was one of those. Apparently out of print for many years before Virago republished this, this is certainly an unknown book that deserves to be much better known.

Set in Sydney, in the 1950s, whilst the Russians are starting to fly Sputnik, this tale of working class lives and factory girls is very reminiscent of Nell Dunn's Poor Cow and Up the junction. Only its Sydney setting gives it a different edge of interest. The women in the story work at the Jumbuck Woollen Mills, with deplorable working conditions and incredibly frustrating existence. There's not so much story as description and character study but it puts together a fantastic portrait of a group of women desperate for a better existence.

Hewett became involved in the Communist Party in Sydney when she arrived in the city in 1949. She asked to be sent to a job in the worst type of factory possible and was sent to the Alexandria Spinning Wheels which provided the model for the Jumbuck Mill. The character of Nell in the story, an active communist, is heavily based on Hewett herself, and the other characters in the story are based on the people that she met there.

There is an interesting interview with Hewett here, which touches on Bobbin Up.

It's only been published once by Virago, with an early green cover.

The little Ottleys (Leverson) 98

I stumbled upon The little Ottleys in Oxfam a while ago, not realising that it contained a trilogy of novels by Ada Leverson, the first of which, Love's Shadow, was republished by Bloomsbury in their Bloomsbury Group collection of books last year, and which I had already read (and not hugely enjoyed). But I did get on and read my way through the rest of it.

The trilogy is concerned with the characters Edith and Bruce, and their marriage. We meet them fairly newly married, in the first book, and then follow their life together, which involves affairs and the realisation that perhaps their marriage isn't all they hoped for. Leverson's writing is humorous, particularly in the first book, with more than a little bit of farce, but somehow I didn't feel it really worked.

Just published once by Virago with an original green cover.

The ice house (Bawden) 381

Another lovely Bawden novel; if I'm honest, they're getting a little samey, but I'm still enjoying working my way through them as they are reliably good reads. The ice house starts with a friendship made at school between Ruth and Daisy; they come from different backgrounds but establish a relationship that will last for the rest of their lives. The story quickly moves on to their adulthood, and we rejoin the pair shortly after Daisy's husband has committed suicide. This triggers much change in the women's lives and sees them addressing what they both thought to be certain. It's only been published once, in the green italicised format.

I've only got two more Bawdens to read out of her VMCs (Afternoon of a good woman and The grain of truth), but I should also mention that I read Devil by the sea before starting on the VVV challenge, so I shall share its cover here, and consider it included in the VVV - it's just been published once and I had this copy from the library.

Clash (Wilkinson) 313

"Joan had not a great voice. With so slight a frame that would not have been possible, but she knew how to use what she had. Her enunciation was clear. Every word finished with a click. The musical timbre of her voice made her clearly audible through the hall. The men and women hung on her words. Briefly, impressively, she told the well-known story of the muddle of the mines - the profits in wartime, the sudden decontrol in 1921, the disastrous lock-out and long struggle, the loss of Continental markets, muddle and waste at home - the 1925 Budget which made further reductions inevitable...it was familiar enough in its details to her audience, but as she told it, the case was terrible".

Joan, the main heroine of Clash, is a trade union organizer, heavily involved in the 1926 General Strike. The book follows her through the week of the strike and afterwards, and gives a wonderful insight into the events from a young, female, radical perspective. Ellen Wilkinson, the author, was herself one of the first female trade union organisers and obviously drew greatly on her experience to write this novel. But it's not just a novel about politics - a thread of the story deals with Joan's personal life and the conflict she has in choosing between two men who are interested in her - the one who wants her to give up politics and the one who is happy to wait for her.

The introduction gives more information about Ellen Wilkinson's life - she sounds like a fascinating person and I must seek out a proper biography.

It's just been published once by Virago, with this incredibly striking cover image. I was kindly lent a copy by Simon from Stuck in a book.

Cover nomenclature

I often talk in my posts about "original" green covers, and "italic" green covers, and thought that it was time to draw up a little schema of the different types of green covers, and give them a standard name to make my blog a little more scientific!

1. The original green cover. This is characterised by the characteristic green top 1/3 of the cover, with title and author in a distinctive white font, separated by white lines under a lime green "Virago Modern Classics" heading. No green apple on the front, just on the spine. This is the holy grail of Virago Modern Classics of which every VMC collector seeks out! Whilst it would be lovely to own a complete set of original green covers, not all of the VMCs by any means were published in this style.

There is a slight variant on this cover, with a different style of font:
2. The italic green cover. The cover is characterised by a green background to the top 1/3 of the cover upon which the title, author, and Virago modern classics is written in white, italic writing.
3. The modern green cover. This is characterised by a small green stripe down the left hand side of the cover with a red apple in the top left hand corner.

4. Classics covers. I noticed that the Jane Austen and Bronte Virago Modern Classics (and possibly others too that I have not yet come across) have this distinctive design. This is characterised by a green border all the way around, with white decoration and type.


5. Dial Press Covers. Although not part of the green covers, readers should be aware that many Virago books were published in America by the Dial Press, and often have the same picture as the original green edition, but with a black background.
6. Penguin editions. It's worth mentioning that Penguin published a number of the Virago modern classics in Australia and the US - they are original green editions, but have a Penguin emblem on the spine and cover in place of the apple. This was discussed earlier on my blog here and has also been discussed on librarything.com.

7. And then obviously there are the huge array of modern editions. I like the way that these are so completely different, although Virago use similar styles for each author. The Daphne Du Maurier covers and Antonia White ones are especial favourites, and the new Barbara Pym and Muriel Sparks are extremely jolly and colourful.

8. Finally there are the 30th Anniversary Hardbacks, issued in 2008 to celebrate 30 years of Virago, such as Valley of the dolls by Susann. I covet the complete set of these, and own four.

Have I missed anything?