Item 124 - Letter from Virginia Woolf to Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence

52 Tavistock Square, W.C.1.—Thanks her for her comments on Three Guineas, and expresses admiration for the Pethick-Lawrences’ work for the women’s movement.

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Transcript

52 Tavistock Square, W.C.1
4th July 38

Dear Mrs Pethick Lawrence,

I have just got back from Scotland, & found your letter. None that I have had about Three Guineas has given me such pleasure. I was haunted by the fear that those who had a right to judge would think me impertinent—I have had so little experience myself. But no one has more right to judge than you have, & if the book seems to you useful I am greatly relieved. To me, the facts seemed so obvious that I wondered that they had not been stated before. Whether stating them does any good, I don’t know, but it was the only thing I could do, & silence had become intolerable to me.

May I take this chance of saying how greatly, when I was reading about the womens movement, I admired the work that you & your husband did for it? A wish not to mention the living—perhaps a foolish wish—made me quote the dead—otherwise I should have liked to express my admiration in writing.

I am glad you liked the pictures. They have educed, {1} I am pleased to find, rage in many quarters.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours sincerely
Virginia Woolf

Yes—the cutting you send is very interesting. May I hoard it along with other such facts?

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{1} This word is indistinct.