Ladies Almanack

This work is a novel in which real persons or actual events figure under disguise. Its subject is the predominantly lesbian social circle centering on Natalie Clifford Barney's salon in Paris in the 1920s. The language, inside jokes and ambiguity of the work have kept critics arguing about whether it is an affectionate satire or a bitter attack, but Barney herself loved the book and re-read it throughout her life.

Djuna Barnes wrote her "Ladies Almanack" for fun, a 'slight satiric wigging', as she called it in her Foreword, to amuse her circle of expatriate friends with the tale of Evangeline Musset who took her whip in hand and 'set out upon the Road of Destiny'. It has since become a cult classic, a unique work that combines visual artistry with literary parody, bawdy humour and an unconstrained zest for the sensual pleasures of love and friendship between strong-minded women. This edition is a hardback facsimile of the original paperback book which was privately printed in Paris in 1928 in a limited edition of 1,050 copies, the first 50 of which were hand-coloured by Djuna Barnes. Daniela Caselli's Afterword illuminates the background and literary qualities of the "Almanack".