It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and now in London), in which they began hand-printing books as a hobby during the interwar period.

[3] Printing began as a hobby for the Woolfs, and it provided a diversion for Virginia when writing became too stressful.

The press was set up in the dining room of Hogarth House, where the Woolfs lived, lending its name to the publishing company they founded.

The Hogarth Press produced a number of publication series that were affordable as well as being attractively bound and printed, and usually commissioned from well known authors.

Woolf's A Letter to a Young Poet (1932), was number 8, and addressed to John Lehmann as an exposition on modern poetry.