Books and Manuscripts

Woolf, Virginia
Autograph letter, signed
Yegen (Spain), April 5, (1923). One sheet folded to make four pages, 8 1/8 x 5 1/4 in. (206 x 133 mm). One page autograph letter, signed by Virginia Woolf in purple ink to Mrs. Olive Temple: "Dear Mrs. Temple, We feel that we did not thank you at all sufficiently for the great kindness you showed us. We enjoyed every minute of our time with you, & came on here much refreshed. Happily we had a lovely day for our ride yesterday, as it was a long one. We did not reach Yegen till 9 in pitch darkness. But this won't mean much to a traveller (sic) like you. We very much hope you will give us a chance of seeing you in England. My husband wants me to say how much he enjoyed his talk with Mr. Temple, & hopes he will be able to go on with them later. Please remember us both to him. Your very sincerely Virginia Woolf." Mounted on top edge to larger presentation sheet, with original mailing envelope addressed in Woolf's hand, similarly mounted on attached presentation sheet. Creasing from original folds, short separation along central fold. Printed in The Letters of Virginia Woolf, Volume Six 1936-1941 (1377a, p. 502).

Virginia Woolf writes to Scottish writer and traveler Mrs. Olive Temple (1880-1936), thanking her and her husband, Charles Lindsay Temple (1871-1929), for their hospitality during her and her husband Leonard's recent two-night stay at their home in Granada. Virginia and Leonard left London on March 27, 1923 for a holiday through France and Spain, their first trip abroad since their honeymoon in 1912. They travelled largely by train, first through France, and then Spain, first visiting Madrid, then Granada--where they stayed with the Temples--and then on to Yegen in the Sierra Nevada (where Virginia penned this letter), where they stayed in a remote cottage with their friend Gerald Brenan.

Olive was the daughter of Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod, the 27th Chief and Baron of Dunvegan, Skye, Scotland. Olive's husband, Charles, was the former Lieutenant-Governor of Northern Nigeria, from January 1914-17. In 1912 Olive published Chiefs and Cities of Central Africa, an account of her epic 3,700 mile journey through Africa.