Portrait of a Marriage
She calls it banishment
Vita to Harold, 14 February 1920 (Lilly Library)
I am simply dazed
Violet to Vita, 14 February 1920
Every day L telephones
Vita to Harold, 18 February 1920 (Lilly Library)
O my darling
Violet to Vita, 16 February 1920 (Beinecke Library)
You can’t seriously
Violet to Vita, 29 January 1920
THIRTEEN
Pat is a powerful
Violet to Vita, February 1920
he does nothing but
ibid, 16 February 1920
he yelled
ibid, 20 February 1920
I only called
Edwardian Daughter
‘My dear Lord’
ibid
I know that just
Denys Trefusis to Violet, 24 February 1920 (Beinecke Library)
I am afraid
Pat Dansey to Vita Sackville-West, 2 March 1920. Violet to Vita
I could not be
Violet to Vita, 9 March 1920
Darling, I saw
Pat Dansey to Violet, 15 March 1920. Violet to Vita
a debased crippled
Violet to Vita, 1 May 1920
I am singularly pure
ibid, 7 May 1920
Before I had always
Portrait of a Marriage
You have told me
Violet to Vita, 12 March 1920 (Beinecke Library)
My dear I worry
Pat Dansey to Vita, 8 May 1920 (Nigel Nicolson)
I saw the sort
Portrait of a Marriage
In the Middle
Violet to Vita, 8 May 1920
How can you expect
ibid, 19 March 1920
What a dreadful
ibid, 11 May 1920
Hate seeing her
Vita Sackville-West, unpublished diary, 22 April 1920 (Lilly Library)
I can’t bear
Violet to Vita, 22 May 1920
I am twenty-six
ibid, 5 June 1920
O Mitya, you can
ibid, 7 July 1920
I fear the scandal
Mrs Keppel to Violet, undated (Beinecke Library)
I could not live
Violet to Vita, 21 July 1920
Jean is a nice
Harold to Vita, 17 January 1919 (Lilly Library)
Can you arrange
ibid, 19 July 1920
Having written it
Portrait of a Marriage
Darling it’s true
Violet to Vita, 24 August 1920
three dozen nightgowns
Edwardian Daughter
She has been gardening
Violet to Vita, August 1920 (Beinecke Library)
You haunt this place
Violet to Vita, August 1920
She fusses
ibid, October 1920
She is diabolical
ibid
If I can’t be
ibid, 19 September 1920
This time last year
ibid, 17 September 1920
I can only feel
ibid, 2 October 1920
I love nothing
ibid, 14 October 1920
It was like two
Portrait of a Marriage
she seems absolutely
Book of Reminiscences
FOURTEEN
On Saturday we shall
Harold to Vita, 8 February 1921. Vita and Harold.
M’elle never leaves
Violet to Vita, 14 March 1921
Another letter
Violet to Vita, 9 March 1921
My poor mother
ibid, 18 March 1921
And what should I
ibid
If only you would
ibid, 29 March 1921
It is possible
Portrait of a Marriage
blazing blue eyes
Dictionary of National Biography, 1921 entry by Vita
Tell Dottie she is
Harold to Vita, March 1921, quoted in Victoria Glendinning, Vita (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983)
the most corrupt
Violet to Vita, 1 May 1921
It seems so odd
ibid
Men chinday now completely
ibid, 27 May 1921
everything to me
ibid, 19 July 1921
I would gladly do
Pat Dansey to Vita, 15 August 1921 (Nigel Nicolson)
Her mother refuses
ibid, 1 September 1921
Beyond that I have
ibid, 10 November 1921
I do wish, Vita
ibid, 23 December 1921
I only feel
Harold to Vita, 8 January 1926. Vita and Harold
I do not remember
Raymond Mortimer to Vita, 29 December 1925 (Lilly Library)
It is only very
I curse myself
Vita to Harold, 8 December 1922. Vita and Harold
And with it all
ibid, 16 November 1922
FIFTEEN
How black is my future
Violet to Pat Dansey, March 1921 (Beinecke Library)
Denys would frequently
Don’t Look Round
I have to go and see
Pat Dansey to Vita, 1 August 1922 (Nigel Nicolson)
I do hate
ibid, 10 March 1922
I will go as
Violet to Pat Dansey, 15 March 1922. Violet to Vita
Well! I’m damned
Pat Dansey to Vita, March 1922 (Nigel Nicolson)
Darling if V
ibid, 6 May 1922
Surely from old
ibid, 17 August 1922
I was fearful
ibid, 8 April 1922
Apparently her mother
ibid, 4 December 1922
I loathe being
ibid, 17 July 1923
Would it be easier
ibid, 30 August 1923
Three perfect days
ibid, 11 November 1923
I centralized on
ibid, 24 November 1923
I would sooner die
ibid, 3 August 1924
I do apologise
ibid, undated 1924
I am going to tell
ibid, 26 June 1924
in a very amorous
ibid, 27 May 1926
She never bought
Lord Northumberland to Vita Sackville-West, 3 February 1924 (Lilly Library)
I do not want
Vita to Harold, 12 February 1923 (Lilly Library)
I surrendered
Don’t Look Round
Every night
The Hook in the Heart, unpublished manuscript (Beinecke Library)
How could she make
ibid
Her love of love
ibid
Disowned by
ibid
People quailed
Don’t Look Round
Part Three: Chacun Sa Tour
SIXTEEN
a cold beauty
quoted in Michael de Cossart, Food of Love: Princesse Edmond de Polignac and her Salon (Hamish Hamilton, 1978)
the hideous Hotel
Horizon Review of Literature, 1941–50
constantly heard
ibid
Together they would
Don’t Look Round
It represented
ibid
I am always - being
Violet to Vita, undated 1920 (Beinecke Library)
Sometimes Mrs Keppel
quoted in Philippe Jullian & John Phillips, Violet Trefusus: Life and Letters (Hamish Hamilton 1976)
She went round
Duff Cooper to Diana Cooper, 6 February 1927. Quoted in A Durable Fire: the letters of Duff and Diana Cooper, ed. Artemis Cooper (Collins 1983)
In love there is
quoted in Charlotte Wolff, Hindsight: An Autobiography. (Quartet 1980)
a mediocre little
Don’t Look Round
self-love in all
Violet Trefusis, Sortie de Secours (Editions Argo, 1929)
In London she had
Harold Acton, More Memoirs of an Aesthete (Methuen 1970)
quality, beauty
Don’t Look Round
A fine figure
More Memoirs of an Aesthete
Winston was so happy
Clementine Churchill to Violet, 10 July 1952 (John Phillips)
Oh my God
Vita to Harold, 2 December 1924 (Lilly Library)
You are always so opty
Harold to Vita, 2 December 1924 (Lilly Library)
disastrous European
Denys Trefusis, The Stones of Emptiness. Unpublished manuscript (Phyllida Ellis)
Above all I have
ibid
For 1½ roubles
ibid
Lord bless me
Virginia Woolf to Vita, 7 February 1927. A Change of Perspective: The Letters of Virginia Woolf Volume III: 1923–1928. Ed. Nigel Nicolson (The Hogarth Press 1977)
He went there
Don’t Look Round
he continued to go
ibid
I can only suppose
ibid
put her head round
Phyllida Ellis to author August 1994
By now you doubtless
Violet to Cyril Connolly, 20 September 1929. Quoted in Violet Trefusis: Life and Letters
SEVENTEEN
one steep Utrillo-like
Don’t Look Round
The subtlety of Challenge
Vita Sackville-West,
