Olivia

Second impression (May), one month after the first printing. 8vo. pp 109, [1] With the dust-jacket designed by Duncan Grant, not price-clipped. Publisher's plum-coloured cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to front and spine, faded at spine. Jacket in excellent condition, slightly soiled with light rubbing at extremities. Top edge stained plum, as published. A significant piece of mid-20th century lesbian literature, initially published anonymously, the novel was later identified as being by Dorothy Bussy, sister of James and Lytton Strachey, a member of the Bloomsbury group. Considered scandalous at the time of its release, the story is set in a French finishing school and believed to be more than party based on the author's time at the Marie Souvestre school. The plot explores the intense affection of a young English student for her French teacher. The printed dedication is to Bussy's close friend "VW", ie. Virginia Woolf.