To the Lighthouse – Woolf/Kent, Modern Library 1937

📖 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1937, The Modern Library) — the First Modern Library Edition of Woolf landmark modernist novel, introducing the Ramsay family summers on the Isle of Skye through shifting stream-of-consciousness perspectives. This copy is in Very Good condition with clean, unmarked pages and a tight binding.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
• Publisher: The Modern Library / Random House, Inc., New York
• Year: 1937 (First Modern Library Edition, #217)
• Format: Hardcover in brown balloon cloth – no dust jacket
• Pages: xiii, 310 | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Condition: Very Good – full report below

THE STORY

First published in 1927 by Virginia and Leonard Woolf Hogarth Press, To the Lighthouse follows the Ramsay family and their guests during summer visits to the Isle of Skye between 1910 and 1920. The novel unfolds across three sections – The Window, Time Passes, and The Lighthouse – using multiple focalization and stream-of-consciousness narrative to explore loss, artistic creation, memory, and the passage of time. The story draws directly from Woolf childhood summers at Talland House in St Ives, Cornwall, where her father, Leslie Stephen, rented a family retreat.

THIS EDITION

The Modern Library issued this as #217 in its numbered series in 1937, ten years after the original Hogarth Press first edition. Published by Random House under the direction of Bennett A. Cerf, Donald S. Klopfer, and Robert K. Haas, it features an introduction by Terence Holliday and endpapers designed by Rockwell Kent. The copyright page notes the book was manufactured in the United States: printed by Parkway Printing Company, paper by Richard Bauer & Co., and bound by H. Wolff.

DESIGN AND CONDITION

The binding is brown balloon cloth with the iconic Modern Library gold runner emblem stamped on the front cover. The spine carries TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and WOOLF in dark sans-serif capitals. The endpapers, designed by Rockwell Kent, feature a repeating geometric pattern with stylized dancing and athletic figures in white on a warm orange-tan background – a distinctive Modern Library design element from this era. A gold foil bookseller label for G. Fox & Co., Inc., Hartford, Conn. is affixed to the lower spine corner of the rear pastedown.

The cloth shows minor rubbing to edges and corners with subtle age fading to the spine, but the gilt emblem remains bright and intact. Pages are clean, unmarked, and uniformly age-toned. The binding is square and tight throughout.

WHY IT MATTERS

• To the Lighthouse is ranked #15 on the Modern Library 100 Best English-Language Novels of the 20th Century (1998) and appears on Time magazine 100 Best English-Language Novels since 1923 (2005)
• The novel won the Prix Femina-Vie Heureuse in 1928, the year after its original publication
• Rockwell Kent endpaper design makes this Modern Library edition visually distinctive
• Modern Library #217 represents the first widely accessible American edition of the novel

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? This is the First Modern Library Edition (#217), published in 1937 by Random House/The Modern Library, with an introduction by Terence Holliday and Rockwell Kent endpapers.

What condition is it in? Very Good – minor edge/corner rubbing, slight spine fading, gilt emblem intact, pages clean and unmarked, binding square and tight. No dust jacket.

Is the dust jacket included? No – this copy does not have a dust jacket.

FOR COLLECTORS

This First Modern Library Edition is a key mid-century American printing of one of the most important novels of the 20th century. The Rockwell Kent-designed endpapers and the gold runner emblem on brown balloon cloth place it firmly in the golden age of Modern Library design. The G. Fox & Co. bookseller label from Hartford, Connecticut adds provenance to this copy history.

Book Details

• Author: Virginia Woolf
• Illustrator: Endpapers designed by Rockwell Kent
• Publisher: The Modern Library / Random House, Inc., New York
• Binding: Hardcover (Brown balloon cloth boards with gilt runner logo)
• Edition Points: Stated First Modern Library Edition 1937 on copyright page. There is a gold foil bookseller label affixed to lower spine corner of rear pastedown: G. Fox & Co., Inc, Hartford, Conn.

Condition Report

• Overall Grade: Very Good (VG)
• Cover & Spine: Minor rubbing to the edges and corners; spine cloth shows subtle age fading; gilt front emblem remains intact.
• Dust Jacket: Not included.
• Text Block & Pages: Text block is a uniform light wood-color, lightly age-toned; pages are clean and unmarked throughout.
• Binding: Square and tight.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-07-28

1 in stock