Dorothy Richardson’s series-novel Pilgrimage runs to over 2,000 pages and 13 “chapter-volumes” and contains some of the most challenging English prose this side of Finnegans Wake. It’s also arguably the most neglected major work of 20th century English fiction. Despite its recognition as a major work, it’s not stocked in most bookshops in the U.K., available only as print on demand. And in the United States, it’s been out of print for over 40 years (until now).

I first read Pilgrimage in 2016 and wrote about the individual volumes and the experience overall on NeglectedBooks.com. It turned me into a champion of Pilgrimage, and in 2022, I organized a year-long group read, an effort supported through the ReadingPilgrimage.com website. It was such a rewarding experience that I immediately wanted to organize another. But I was put off by the fact that Pilgrimage was out of print and hard to get in the U.S. After contacting numerous publishers without success, I decided to fix the problem myself. I purchased the U.S. rights to the chapter-volumes still under copyright from the Richardson Estate, and in collaboration with designer Louise Aspinall, I’ve now published a new U.S. edition of Pilgrimage, available for sale exclusively from Asterism Books.

This edition incorporates the texts of the respective first edition of each chapter-volume and is set in Caslon, the same typeface as the Duckworth editions of Richardson’s first ten books. It includes synopses of each chapter-volume and translations of the many French, German, and other foreign language phrases and references.

Quite honestly, I wish I hadn’t had to do this. Dorothy Richardson’s work deserves to be in print and as widely sold and read as that or Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. This edition is as much a sign of the irresponsibility of American publishers and American scholars of 20th Century literature as a sign of respect for Richardson and the importance of her achievement. Richardson’s protagonist, Miriam Henderson, deals with issues still deeply relevant today: earning a living; finding a place to live; getting along with roommates and employers; figuring out how sex fits in one’s life; shaping a way to “self-actualize” while holding down a job and keeping up with the demands of daily living; carving out an identity that isn’t defined (or constrained) by marriage or class or religion or gender. And Richardson’s vivid impressions and elliptical style means Pilgrimage is a text one can return to over and over and find new meanings from.

I hope this new edition of Pilgrimage helps bring a new generation of readers to this revelatory work.