"BUT NO, I DON'T SUPPOSE WE SHOULD HAVE DARED": AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

WOOLF, Virginia. Autograph letter signed. London, circa 1935. One sheet, measuring 6-1/2 by 8-1/4 inches, writing on recto. $4200.

Autograph letter signed by Virginia Woolf to her brother-in-law Clive Bell.

This letter was written by Woolf to art critic Clive Bell, who married her sister Vanessa in 1907. Although the Bells had separated within a decade, they never formally divorced, and often spent time together; Vanessa's daughter with the artist Duncan Grant was raised by Clive as his own, and he would often visit with them at the farmhouse they shared. Clive Bell lived mostly at Cleeve House, his family's estate in Wiltshire. The letter, on Woolf's Tavistock Square stationery, reads, "Monday. Dearest Clive, Yes, I was just writing to propose the same thing. So we’ll come to you on Saturday at 8. We were passing Cleeve House yesterday in the broiling heat. Had we known you were there—but no, I don’t suppose we should have dared. V.W." Pencil notations to recto.

Expected fold lines. A fine autograph letter from the inner circle of the Bloomsbury Group.