Tale as old as time
THE publication of a miniature book written in 1922 for Queen Mary’s Doll’s House by Vita Sackville-west casts new light on the inspiration behind Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, which has a remarkably similar premise.
Published in 1928, Woolf’s fantastical romp features a man who travels through centuries witnessing exciting events, meeting historical figures and morphing into a woman somewhere along the way and has long been known to be based on the family history of Sackville-west, who was famously Woolf’s lover. Nigel Nicolson, Sackville-west’s son, has described Orlando as ‘the longest and most charming love letter in literature’, but it was not previously known that a book, albeit written for dolls, on a similar theme was created at least four years before Woolf started writing Orlando.
A Note of Explanation is written in Sackville-west’s own hand on pages no bigger than postage stamps (11∕2in by just under half an inch). In it, she relates the life of an ageless sprite who has witnessed all the high points of fairytale history, from Cinderella’s ball to Sleeping Beauty’s kiss. Moving into the world’s most famous doll’s house, she takes delight in 1920s high life, luxuriating in marble bathrooms and quaffing vintages from the cellar.
‘Needless to say, there were at first a few disasters,’ writes Sackvillewest. ‘There was the day when, going up in the lift, she accidentally touched the “stop” button, and remained stuck between two floors for the rest of the afternoon. But such minor inconveniences were as nothing beside the pleasure which these mechanical contrivances brought her… which caused her to compare Aladdin’s palace most unfavourably with the doll’s house.’
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Great Exhibition of 1924, Queen Mary’s Doll’s House was a showpiece of British workmanship, with running water, electricity and even working lifts (COUNTRY LIFE, November 30, 2016). Some of the greatest writers of the day were commissioned to create some 200 miniature books for it; they included Thomas Hardy, Kipling and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It even has a miniature copy of COUNTRY LIFE. Today, it is on display at Windsor Castle.
Published by the Royal Collection Trust, the new cloth-bound edition of A Note of Explanation (£16.95) features Art Deco-style illustrations by Kate Baylay (above) and an afterword by Matthew Dennison, COUNTRY LIFE contributor and author of Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-west.