Violet to Vita, 8 June 1912 (Beinecke Library)
He lays down
Vita to Harold, 6 June 1913 (Lilly Library)
Isn’t it funny
Harold to Vita, 28 July 1913 (Lilly Library)
Accepté mes félicitations
Violet to Vita, 5 August 1913 (Beinecke Library)
Dear Mr Smith
quoted in Susan Mary Alsop, Lady Sackville (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1978)
How she flung
Portrait of a Marriage
I remember
ibid
Everything in me
Harold to Vita, 11 September 1914 (Lilly Library)
not very attractive
Edwardian Daughter
It required
Don’t Look Round
He would arrive
Edwardian Daughter
His courtship was too
Don’t Look Round
It was tacitly
ibid
Even Mama
Edwardian Daughter
You and your dog
ibid
There’s a war
ibid
Poor Archie
ibid
The idea of matrimony
Don’t Look Round
I think perhaps
Pepita
Damn that little too too
Harold to Vita, 7 June 1917 (Lilly Library)
I used to invent
Pat Dansey to Vita, 4 September 1922 (Nigel Nicolson)
Part Two: Portrait of a Lesbian Affair
TEN
I simply cant
Violet to Vita, 29 October 1917
bloody time
Harold to Vita, 6 November 1917 (Lilly Library)
untidy or crawly
ibid, 6 November 1917
like a searchlight
ibid, 7 November 1917
And I shall be
ibid, 7 November 1917
my whole soul
ibid, 7 November 1917
frightfully opty
ibid, 15 March 1918
We were in fact
Portrait of a Marriage
in the unaccustomed
ibid
I was infinitely
ibid
I am young
Violet to Vita, undated 1918
I felt like a person
Portrait of a Marriage
How triumphant we were
Violet to Vita, 20 July 1919
I wish I was more
Harold to Vita, 9 May 1918 (Lilly Library)
where no one will want me
Vita to Harold, 11 May 1918 Vita and Harold
Darling one day
ibid
God Mitya do you wonder
Violet to Vita, undated May 1918 (Beinecke Library)
I am drunk with the beauty
Violet to Vita, undated 1918
she looks so charming
Victoria Sackville, unpublished diary, 18 May 1918 (Lilly Library)
God knows it is
Violet to Vita, 23 January 1918
O Mitya come
ibid, 14 August 1918
How happy we were
ibid, 20 July 1919
I adore you
ibid, 22 July 1919
Married life under
Victoria Sackville, Lady Sackville
What sort of life
Violet to Vita, 22 July 1918
all things seductive
Vita Sackville-West, Challenge (Collins 1974)
Her humour
ibid
so marvellously
Violet to Vita, 27 August 1918
God knows
ibid, 19 August 1918
I hate lies
ibid, 26 August 1918
How right you were
ibid, 23 July 1918
I want you for
ibid, 25 August 1918
I have greatly dared
ibid, 26 August 1918
O Vita get away
Violet to Vita, 15 September 1918 (Beinecke Library)
What is the good
Violet to Vita, 23 September 1918
Mitya, even you
ibid
This is the best
Vita and Portrait of a Marriage
It does seem unfair
Violet to Vita, October 1918 (Beinecke Library)
Chinday was at her worst
Violet to Vita, October 1918
As Mrs Nicolson
Sidney Russell Cooke to Violet, 31 October 1918 (Lilly Library)
ELEVEN
Mitya will never leave
Violet to Vita, 21 March 1919
that swine Violet
Harold to Vita, 5 December 1918 Vita and Harold
She flatters you
Vita
It is nobody’s business
Victoria Sackville, Book of Reminiscences, 1922, published in Susan Mary Alsop, Lady Sackville
You say Violet
Harold to Vita, 14 February 1919 (Lilly Library)
I have destroyed
Harold to Vita, February 1919 (Lilly Library)
I’m glad
Violet to Vita, 16 March 1919 (Beinecke Library)
She talks in a voice
Vita to Harold, 20 March 1919 (Lilly Library)
Mitya I can’t face
Violet to Vita, March 1919
You know how I loathe
ibid, 21 March 1919
hell of having to endure
Violet to Vita, March 1919 (Beinecke Library)
What’s going to happen?
Violet to Vita, March 1919
I feel really
Harold to Vita, 29 March 1919 (Lilly Library)
Poor Denys
Vita to Harold, ibid, 30 March 1919
I certainly told
Violet to Vita, 8 May 1919
his word of honour
ibid, 30 March 1919
specialise in Russian
Denys to John Schomberg Trefusis, 1910 (Phyllida Ellis)
You look as though
ibid, April 1919
very county
Phyllida Ellis to author, April 1994
caged up
Denys to his sister Betty, 1911 (Phyllida Ellis)
I hate them, Mitya
Violet to Vita, 2 May 1919
Living permanently
Portrait of a Marriage
You simply can’t
Harold to Vita, 29 March 1919 Vita and Harold (Lilly Library)
he will say
Violet to Vita, undated March 1919
Hadji this
ibid, 19 April 1919
O darling
All I can do
Harold to Vita, 22 May 1919 (Lilly Library)
She says I would
Violet to Vita, 29 April 1919 (Beinecke Library)
I don’t absolutely
Portrait of a Marriage
My dear Vita
Denys Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, 3 May 1919 (Lilly Library)
rigidly suppressed
Denys Trefusis to his sister Betty, 1911 (Pyllida Ellis)
ought to be confined
Violet to Vita, 5 May 1919
Really, how nice
ibid, 6 May 1919
I don’t think any
Pat Dansey, to Vita, May 1919
We are making
Violet to Vita, undated 1919
When I say care
ibid, 23 September 1918
I nearly struck
ibid, 6 May 1919
I can’t, can’t have one
ibid, 9 May 1919
Unless you make
Pat Dansey to Vita, undated 1919
I should like to
Harold to Vita, 24 May 1919 (Lilly Library)
I think he will
Violet to Vita, June 1919
V’s wedding
Vita to Harold, 1 June 1919 (Lilly Library)
you must come
Harold to Vita, 3 June 1919 (Lilly Library)
Violet thinks I will
Vita to Harold, 9 June 1919 (Lilly Library)
All that time
Portrait of a Marriage
TWELVE
I treated her savagely
Portrait of a Marriage
Don’t you know
ibid
What are you thinking
Violet to Vita, July 1919
If only I knew
ibid, 26 June 1919
O God another
ibid, 8 July 1919
All this will
ibid, 21 July 1919
Will the young
Edwardian Daughter
I see no one
Violet to Vita, September 1919 (Beinecke Library)
when you are not with me
Vita to Violet, fragment, 1919 (Beinecke Library)
Tomorrow you will go
Violet to Vita, September 1919 (Beinecke Library)
I had another frightful
ibid
I can’t impress
Violet to Vita, 17 October 1919
I said nothing
Victoria Sackville, unpublished diary, 18 December 1919 (Lilly Library)
I feel I ought
Violet to Vita, 6 January 1920
I felt blackened
Portrait of a Marriage
I know you can
Vita to Harold, 1 February 1920, Vita and Harold
It was a sort
Violet to Vita, 16 February, 1920 (Beinecke Library)
she refused so positively
Vita to Harold, 9 February 1920. Vita and Harold
He was pompous
Portrait of a Marriage
Denys was very cool
Victoria Sackville, unpublished diary, February 1920 (Lilly Library)
This must
