"I EXPECT YOU AT 4 TOMORROW, DON'T I? AND WOULD YOU ALSO COME IN AFTER DINNER?": FOUR POSTCARDS SIGNED OR INITIALED BY VIRGINIA WOOLF TO JANE BUSSY
WOOLF, Virginia. Four autograph postcards signed. London, 1933-36. Four postcards. Three postcards measure 3-1/2 by 5-1/2 inches; one measures 4-1/2 by 6 inches.
Four autograph postcards signed or initialed by Virginia Woolf to Jane Bussy, the daughter of Dorothy Strachey Bussy and the French artist Simon Bussy and the niece of Lytton Strachey.
Jane Bussy's parents, the French painter Simon Bussy and his wife, translator Dorothy Strachey Bussy, lived in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the Mediterranean in a villa purchased by Dorothy's father for them as a wedding present. The family was fluent in both English and French; Jane tutored Virginia Woolf in French, and Dorothy was the main translator of Gide into English, publishing it with Knopf after being rejected by the Woolfs' Hogarth Press. The four postcards, each addressed to "Miss J. Bussy" at 51 Gordon Square and dated from 1933 to 1936, read in full: 1) "If you are by any chance free, do duck in anytime after 9:30 tomorrow (Monday) Virginia W. No party." 2) "I expect you at 4 tomorrow, don’t I? And would you also come in after dinner? And would you ring up today as I hope yes: not No. VW. 2621 Musueum." 3) "I find I shall be free tomorrow at 5— If I could have a lesson? Would you very kindly ring up and say if this suits? Anyhow I expect you on Friday. V." 4) "I’m wrong. L have meetings on Wednesday, and I have someone coming to see me (also, as you say) I loathe the Cockstail. But hope to see you soon nevertheless. VW."
A charming collection.