Rare signed Virginia Woolf book on auction for $2,600

By James Gamble

Signed books gifted by Bloomsbury Set authors to their famed cook are estimated to fetch thousands at auction.

The first editions of Nellie Boxall, cook and housekeeper to Bloomsbury Set author Virginia Woolf and actors Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, are tipped to fetch a collective total of up to $2,600.

Boxall's collection includes a signed and inscribed first edition biography from Laughton and Lanchester, as well as an inscribed copy of Woolf's novel Orlando.

Other lots in the collection, consigned by one of Boxall's descendants, include signed photographs of the famous writer.

Nellie Boxall (1890-1965) was more than just a servant, as Woolf argued herself and as is clear in the inscriptions on books given to her by her employers.

Boxall became a literary figure thanks to the author, with more than one connection to the Bloomsbury Set.

Born in Farncombe, Surrey, as the youngest of ten children, she went into domestic service after the death of her mother.

At first, she worked for painter and art critic Roger Fry (1866-1934) at his house ‘Durbins’ in Guildford, Surrey, where she met lifelong friend Lottie Hope, who appears in the photographs along with Boxall and members of Woolf’s family.

The two girls worked for Fry from 1916 until 1934, when the painter recommended them both to Woolf.

Boxall worked as a cook and housekeeper for Virginia and Leonard Woolf for 18 years.

Initially a general cook, she later became a ‘first class cook’ when Woolf sent her for lessons to refine her skills with celebrity chef, Marcel Boulestin.

Woolf’s later writings mention her servant - though never by name - and when the author regretted that there were no maids mentioned in her father’s Dictionary of Biography, Boxall was included in the successor to her father’s work, the Oxford Dictionary of Biography (ODNB).

However, Boxall and Hope's relationship with Virginia Woolf is noted as being volatile, with one entry in Woolf’s diaries recording Nellie having given her notice “for the 165th time”.

After leaving the Woolfs in 1934, Boxall became cook and housekeeper to actors Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, where she cooked for celebrities of the day, including German actress Marlene Dietrich.

When Boxhall left the employment of Charles Laughton in 1936, she returned to Farncombe and spent the rest of her life living in a house she bought there.

The presentation copy of Orlando is a first English edition, first impression, neatly inscribed in black ink on the front free endpaper by Woolf: "Nellie Boxall / from Virginia Woolf / Oct. 11th 1928."

The book also comes with two vintage portrait photographs: one a sepia-toned print, from around 1902, depicting Woolf with an ink inscription in an unknown hand on the reverse reading: "Mrs. Woolf, 52 Tavistock Square, London, WC1."

The second, pasted on brown card, depicts Woolf around 1925.

A presentation first edition copy of Charles Laughton and I, by Elsa Lanchester, published by Faber and Faber in 1938, comes inscribed by both Lanchester and Laughton.

Signed in black fountain pen on front free endpaper to Nellie Boxall, it reads: "To Nellie/ Damn You! With I might even say 'love' from The Master??? (Charles Laughton) and Mistress Elsa Lanchester."

It is accompanied by two loosely inserted black and white publicity postcards of the couple.

Also included in the Ewbank's auction is a digitally printed folded page showing a photograph originally taken by Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell at Charleston, Sussex, in 1922.

It captures a group of domestic staff with Vanessa Bell’s daughter, Angelica Bell, seated in front of Boxall, Hope and Nellie Brittain.

Two additional small black and white photographs also show Boxall, with the first depicting three ladies: Boxall, her niece Grace, and Lottie Hope.

The 5x2 inch image is captioned in ink to the reverse: "Nellie Boxall, Aunty Grace, Lottie Hope."

The second (5 x 3 inches) shows Hope, Boxall and her husband, Bert Hill, and has the following ink caption: "Lottie Hope, Nellie Boxall, Uncle Bert," and comes with a related newspaper cutting.

The collection is tipped to sell for between £1,500 and £2,000.

“This is a wonderful time capsule helping to bring an important character related to The Bloomsbury Set back to light after almost 100 years,” Denise Kelly, a Consultant Specialist at Ewbank's, 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.”

Ewbank's sale takes place on March 26.