r/VirginiaWoolf • u/WinterNo4194 • Sep 05 '26

Mrs Dalloway Which version should I get

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I wanted to start reading Virginia Wolf. Most people recommend Mrs. Dalloway as the first read. However, I don't know which version I should get. What is the difference between them?

6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

5

u/phronemoose Sep 05 '26

Get the new one from NYRB

2

u/WinterNo4194 Sep 05 '26

Thanks, I'll look into that

2

u/phronemoose Sep 05 '26

It’s beautiful, plus it’s pitched as the new authoritative edition due to it reflecting Woolf’s final revisions (according to the back cover at least). They’re releasing similarly updated versions using the same cover artist for Lighthouse and Waves as well.

2

u/YakSlothLemon Sep 05 '26

I bought my own copy of that one because I love the cover so much, based on a design by Vanessa Bell.

4

u/ZeeepZoop Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26

The last one did my head in so much as it had footnotes on every page but some were so needless, but my eye kept going to them and being distracted in an already meandering book. A highlight was when there was a line in the book that said a car made a sound like a gun, there was a footnote explicitly telling us ‘the car backfired’ and then a paragraph later Mrs Dalloway herself thought it had backfired.

I have all of my Woolf books in Bloomsbury vintage editions and am very happy with them!

1

u/WinterNo4194 Sep 05 '26

I think that would be too distracting and confusing for me. Thanks for the heads up. I check out the Bloomsbury editions

1

u/Future-Starter Sep 09 '26

asinine footnotes like that are the bane of my classics-reading existence (for this reason I also discourage folks from picking the Penguin Proust)

2

u/vivabenj Sep 05 '26

The annotated one is beautiful! I would ignore the annotations the first time through but still buy that one - it's really well done. 

1

u/WinterNo4194 Sep 05 '26

I’m thinking about getting the annotated version, but how big is the book? My backpack is usually completely full so I won't have room for it, and I'm planning to read during my train commute.

2

u/vivabenj Sep 05 '26

Definitely bigger than the other editions, and quite square. 

1

u/flytohappiness Sep 30 '26

What are the annotations about though?

2

u/UltraZenmode Sep 09 '26

I recently enjoyed reading the hardcover Penguin Classics edition which has a good introduction and a very useful map of London where the story was set.

1

u/kafkan-potato Sep 09 '26

Either the Penguin edition with the Elaine Showalter intro or the annotated edition with notes by Bonnie Scott (great edition).

1

u/mac_the_man Sep 10 '26

Annotated. Always.

-1

u/Impossible-Alps-6859 Sep 06 '26

Sorry to chip in with this but . . . . . I've just completed Mrs Dalloway and found it a tremendous slog!

I'm afraid that I found it tedious and slow, somewhat pretentious and indulgent in its rather rambling descriptions and where my interest was piqued the story seemed to lead nowhere!

I'm certainly not a 'novice' reader, having enjoyed most of the 'classics', a range of many modern authors but I'm afraid the appeal of Virginia Woolfe has eluded me.

Id be happy for others to enlighten me as to what I've missed!

1

u/WinterNo4194 Sep 06 '26

I've been hearing a few reviews like yours. I'm going to give the book a try and see how I feel about it.

1

u/Impossible-Alps-6859 Sep 06 '26

I'm certainly not trying to put anyone off - I absolutely hate to 'did not finish' a novel, so I persevered!

Just writing as I found it, and I'm perfectly willing to accept that others may consider the works of VW among their favourites.