Lennie Goodings — A Bite of the Apple

Oxford , Oxford University Press , 2020. First edition. Cloth. A fantastic signed first impression of this part memoir part history of Virago Press, this copy from the library of its founder Carmen Callil. A strong association copy of this memoir from the library of Carmen Callil, who founded Virago Press in 1973, to "publish books which celebrated women and women's lives, and which would, by so doing, spread the message of women's liberation to the whole population". Virago publish works by new and neglected female authors, publishing the works by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter, all with a distinctive green spine synonymous with Virago.Signed dedication to Callil from the author to the title page.The first edition, first impression. With the publisher's original unclipped dust wrapper. This volume serves as a semi-autobiographical history of the press and on over forty years of feminist publishing. Written by Lennie Goodings, who started as publicist at Virago and then a publisher and editor, who chronologically recounts what it was like publishing a breadth of boundary-breaking titles as well as the experience of working with such authors.  In the original cloth binding. With the original unclipped dust wrapper. Externally, with only minor shelf wear to the spine, otherwise lovely. Dust wrapper is also lovely, with faint signs of shelf wear. Internally, firmly bound with bright and clean pages. Fine . Ill.: None. Fine/Fine.