Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room: The Holograph Draft

Based on the holograph manuscript in the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public library, this transcription follows the original three-volume manuscript page for page and line for line, giving the reader a sense of how Jacob’s Room was truly a work in progress. Written between 1920 and 1922, Jacob’s Room was a literary experiment for Woolf, leaving behind the traditional forms of her previous novels, The Voyage Out and Night and Day. Included in Bishop’s text are the short sketches that Virginia Woolf included in volume II of the manuscript. Spelling and punctuation has not been corrected or normalized to maintain continuity with the original manuscript.