Violet: The Life & Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse, 1871-1948

London: Published by Harvill for SBC Warburg, 1996. Near Fine. LIMITED EDITION, SIGNED BY AUTHOR. Large 8vo, amply illustrated, plus DVD � Violet Gordon Woodhouse: Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord Volume III � and booklet in matching case. Grey cloth, decorated and lettered in silver, illustrated paper label, framed in blind, to upper board, pink marbled endpapers, purple ribbon marker. Both housed in grey cloth clamshell box with pink marbled paper innards. Shallow bruising to bottom edges of clamshell box, a scatter of pinprick stains. Douglas Home's signature in blue pen to fly-leaf. Else, clean, tight and bright: a splendid copy of an attractive edition. Near Fine. A celebrated pianist, Violet Gordon Woodhouse became the foremost clavichord player of her day and the first artist to record and broadcast harpsichord on the radio. She was also key to the revival of pre-Romantic music. Her private life was equally unorthodox: she lived in a "a surprisingly harmonious" m�nage � cinq � known, less than affectionately, by contemporaries as "the Woodhouse circus" � with four men, including her legal husband, John Gordon Woodhouse. The intentionally childless marriage, allowed VGW to pursue music full-time. As well as the devotion of four "husbands," she was also adored by Dame Ethel Smyth, Christabel Marshall, and Radclyffe Hall, who dedicated The Forgotten Island to this "mistress of stylish showmanship".