Signed novel given to Virginia Woolf's cook to be sold

A signed and inscribed first edition of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando, given to her cook and housekeeper Nellie Boxall, is set to go under the hammer.

The novel, with the inscription "Nellie Boxall from Virginia Woolf", is dated 11 October 1928.

It is part of a collection of books and vintage photos connected to the cook, which is expected to fetch up to £2,000 at auction on 26 March at Ewbank's in Woking, Surrey.

The sale includes a signed and inscribed first-edition biography given to Nellie by actor Charles Laughton and his actress wife Elsa Lanchester, who she later worked for, as well as photos from Virginia Woolf.

The first edition of Charles Laughton and I, by Elsa Lanchester, published in 1938, comes inscribed by both Lanchester and Laughton. It is accompanied by two publicity postcards of the couple.

Nellie, who died in 1965, became a literary figure in her own right thanks to Virginia Woolf, with more than one connection to the Bloomsbury Set.

Born in Farncombe, the youngest of 10 children, she went into domestic service after the death of her mother, firstly for painter and art critic Roger Fry at his house, Durbins, in Guildford.

It was there she met her lifelong friend, Lottie Hope, who appears in the photos with her and members of Virginia Woolf's family.

Nellie was a cook and housekeeper to Virginia and her husband Leonard Woolf for 18 years.

Woolf's later writings include Nellie, although she never mentioned her by name.

Their relationship was noted as sometimes volatile, with Woolf's diaries recording Nellie giving notice "for the 165th time".

"This is a wonderful time capsule helping to bring an important character related to the Bloomsbury Set back to light after almost 100 years," Ewbank's consultant specialist Denise Kelly said.

"It is very clear from both the way that Virginia Woolf wrote about Nellie, and the manner in which Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester addressed her, that she was no mere servant to them, but a revered and loved member of the household."

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