This is Woolf's first and most popular volume of essays. This collection has more than twenty-five selections, including such important statements as "Modern Fiction" and "The Modern Essay."

Virginia Woolf is well known as one of the most prominent fiction writers of the twentieth century, what may be less well known is her astounding collection of letters and essays. Here in this collection aimed at 'the Common reader', Woolf produced an eccentric and personal literary and social history of European thought in her own unique style. This collection helped cement Woolf as one of the most popular writers of her time.