A Press of One’s Own : LEONARD AND VIRGINIA WOOLF AS PUBLISHERS: The Hogarth Press, 1917-41, By J.H. Willis Jr. (University Press of Virginia: $29.95; 467 pp.)

When Leonard and Virginia Woolf founded the Hogarth Press in 1917, they needed the income their efforts might provide. There were a couple of other reasons as well. Virginia needed something to do in the afternoons, to distract and rescue her from sometimes harmfully intense absorption in her novels. And she hoped their hobby would draw Leonard Woolf away from his political involvement in the Fabian Society. Their hobby quickly became a full-fledged publishing company--one of the most distinguished and important publishers of our century. Hogarth Press, as part of a larger conglomerate, continues to publish to this day.

In “Leonard and Virginia Woolf as Publishers: The Hogarth Press 1917-1941,” J. H. Willis makes use of previously unavailable archival materials as well as the writings and records of the Hogarth Press principals. The book is a refreshing and lively look at these two complex and interesting people, from the perspective of their day-to-day work of setting type, balancing accounts, editing manuscripts and wrapping packages of books.

When the Hogarth Press was founded (in their newly acquired Hogarth House), both Woolfs were, though early in their literary careers, extremely active as novelists, reviewers and essayists. Virginia’s trust brought in a bit of money for essentials, but their writing income was insufficient to cover all their needs.

The Woolfs bought a small, inexpensive, kitchen-table-model printing press and other miscellaneous equipment, taught themselves to set type and print. Then they bought supplies for the publication of their first pamphlet of 32 pages, which included a short story by each of the proprietors.

By subscription, they sold 134 of the 150 copies printed. “Our idea was that, if this succeeded, we might go on to print and publish in the same way poems or other short works which the commercial publishers would not look at,” Leonard Woolf reported in the third volume of his autobiography. This first publication made a bit of money, and from that point onward the Woolfs were publishers as well as writers.

Despite the Woolfs’ modest intentions, within a few years their press became a profitable, commercial publishing company. The very modesty of their enterprise contributed to their great success; their aim was to bring to the attention of an audience who would appreciate it fine literature and nicely yet not lavishly designed books. It was a business by and for readers.

Through most of the period Willis discusses, the Hogarth Press produced 25 to 35 books a year. This is an amazing accomplishment, the more so when one takes into account that the Hogarth Press was for its proprietors a part-time occupation, and that both also managed to be extraordinarily prolific writers. An alphabetical list of Hogarth authors includes Conrad Aiken, I. A. Bunin, Nancy Cunard, C. Day Lewis (now perhaps best known as Daniel’s dad), F. M. Dostoevsky, T. S. Eliot (the Woolfs published the first British edition of “The Wasteland”), E. M. Forster, Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud, Roger Fry, Maxim Gorky, Robert Graves, J. A. Hobson, Kathleen Innes, Christopher Isherwood, Robinson Jeffers, J. M. Keynes, Rose Macaulay, Edwin Muir, Willa Muir, Herbert Read, Laura Riding, Rainer Maria Rilke, Vita Sackville-West, Edith Sitwell, Logan Piersall Smith, Gertrude Stein, Italo Svevo, Tolstoy, Laurens Van der Post, Hugh Walpole, H. G. Wells, Rebecca West--and, of course, both of the Woolfs.

After 1930, the Hogarth Press moved beyond its distinctive literary publishing and became an expression of Leonard’s and Virginia’s social concerns. The Woolfs used publishing as a vehicle of social activism, and published books on disarmament, feminism, peace, the League of Nations, problems of race and slavery, economics, Africa and South Africa, Russia, education, economics and psychology (they published most of the works of Freud). Like all vital publishers, Hogarth Press as guided by the Woolfs was at the center of the cultural, social and political discussions of its day.

Willis follows the development of Hogarth Press chronologically, providing information about each important book and author. He manages to avoid the pitfalls of this potentially dull approach by concentrating on the drama of publication, on interesting anecdotes about well-known authors, and on how well Hogarth Press dovetailed with Leonard’s and Virginia’s other interests.

John Lehman, whose management of the Hogarth Press in later years was vital, said, “Both the Woolfs, but in particular Leonard, had an emotional attitude toward the Press; as if it were the child their marriage had never produced.”

Readers of Leonard’s five-volume autobiography, exasperated by his peevishness and penchant for minutiae, may understand and appreciate how important these qualities were to the success of Hogarth Press. Much of what we now know of the press is due to Leonard’s enthusiastic appetite for details. He was perfectly suited to running the business affairs of a mom-and-pop operation.

Willis subtly explores the importance of the press to Virginia and her writing. The financial success of Hogarth eventually rewarded Virginia literally with a room of her own (the bustling press shared quarters with its proprietors until World War II). She not only had time to write but also absolute control and freedom to develop artistically. From its founding, Hogarth Press published all of Virginia’s work. Willis comments that during the first years of the press, “she rose splendidly to the height of her career and dominated the Hogarth Press list.” From 1925 to 1929, the Hogarth Press published five of her books, including “Mrs. Dalloway,” “A Room of One’s Own” and “Orlando” (which was a smash commercial success, selling more than 11,000 copies in its first three months in print). The irony is that though her style developed without commercial pressure, becoming more “literary” as time went on, her books made a good deal of money for the press and for their author.