E. M. Forster's Alexandria Books Page 12

The book was among the last of the Hogarth Press editions to be printed and bound by the Woolfs themselves (and their assistants). Virginia Woolf, helped at first by Ralph Partridge and later by Marjorie Joad, set the type by hand. There were two variations of the binding. The one on the right below, with the pattern on the paper running horizontally, is the more common by far. The slightly larger size of the vertically patterned variant is due to the fact that the pages were trimmed only on the top, leaving the others with deckle edges.

	The book was among the last of the Hogarth Press editions to be printed and bound by the Woolfs themselves (and their assistants). Virginia Woolf, helped at first by Ralph Partridge and later by Marjorie Joad, set the type by hand. There were two variations of the binding. The one on the right below, with the pattern on the paper running horizontally, is the more common by far. The slightly larger size of the vertically patterned variant is due to the fact that the pages were trimmed only on the top, leaving the others with deckle edges.

	The majority of the edition (perhaps 3/4) is bound with the horizontal pattern. However, from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, the vertical patterned variant achieves a fine press look that many early Hogarth Press productions lack. The narrower cloth along the spine edge blends with the long verticle undulations to exaggerate the few millimeters of real measured difference and combines with the untrimmed front and bottom page edges to give the volume an altogether different feel.