D.H. Lawrence First Editions

• The White Peacock — 1911 · Duffield & CompanyDuffield & Company, New York, published 19 January 1911 — Lawrence's first book (McDonald 1A; Roberts & Poplawski A1a). Title page: 'THE / WHITE PEACOCK / A Novel / By / D. H. Lawrence / (publishers' device) / New York / Duffield & Company / 1911'; the verso carries 'Copyright, 1910, by Duffield & Company' above a rule and 'The Trow Press, New York' below. Dealers treat that 1910 copyright notice as the…. Precedence confirmed, motive corrected. Duffield (New York), 19 January 1911, does precede Heinemann (London), 20 January 1911, by one day, so the American edition is the true first of Lawrence's first book. But McDonald records that simultaneous Anglo-American publication was the intention and that copyright proceedings had already begun in both countries during 1910; the census gloss that the American edition…. No book-club issue is documented for either 1911 edition. On the Heinemann there were two binding orders of 750 copies each, and both contain the first printed sheets: the first binding has the Heinemann windmill device blind-stamped at the centre of the back cover, the second lacks it. That is a binding variation, not a textual issue — a copy without the blind stamp is still first-edition sheets and should not….
• Sons and Lovers — 1913 · Gerald DuckworthDuckworth London 1913. First issue in the publisher's blue/green cloth with Duckworth imprint and the '1913' date; 16-page catalogue of advertisements often present. UK first precedes US Mitchell Kennerley 1913. Duckworth London 1913 is the true first; Mitchell Kennerley New York 1913 is the first US. The UK first is the standard collectible. US Kennerley and later reprints distinguished by imprint; modern editions carry number lines absent from the 1913 first.
• The Rainbow — 1915 · Methuen & Co. Ltd.Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, published 30 September 1915; first printing 2,500 copies (McDonald 7; Roberts A7/A7a). The title page is undated — 'THE RAINBOW / By / D. H. Lawrence / Author of "Sons and Lovers" / Methuen & Co. Ltd. / 36 Essex Street W. C. / London' — with 'First Published in 1915' centred on the verso; a dated title page is therefore not a first-edition feature. Collation pp. viii + 468: half-title,…. Methuen, London, 30 September 1915 is the true first and the only edition carrying Lawrence's complete text — the census is confirmed on both counts. The book circulated roughly six weeks before Bow Street magistrates ordered it suppressed as obscene on 13 November 1915; Methuen did not defend the action, was fined and complied with the order to destroy stock, so the majority of the 2,500 copies were destroyed…. No book-club issue is documented for the 1915 Methuen. The traps are the expurgated American line — Huebsch (New York, 1916 title-page date), Huebsch's subsequent and more expensive form, and Thomas Seltzer (New York, 1924), all of which carry the same cut text — routinely offered as 'first editions' of The Rainbow when they are neither the first nor the complete text. Confirm against the Methuen points: undated….
• Women in Love — 1920 · Privately printedThe true first is the privately printed subscribers' edition (Thomas Seltzer, New York, dated 1920), issued 9 November 1920 in a limitation of 1,250 numbered copies, available only to subscribers because of the controversy surrounding Lawrence's earlier The Rainbow. Bound in blue cloth; the numbered limitation statement appears in the front matter. A small number of copies (about twenty-five, apparently…. The privately printed Seltzer New York 1920 limited edition (1,250 numbered copies) is the true first and precedes the first UK trade edition, Martin Secker, London, 1921, by roughly seven months. Only a handful of the 1,250 carry Lawrence's signature; a numbered-but-unsigned copy is still a copy of the genuine first. The Secker UK trade edition and all later reprints are unlimited and lack the numbered limitation leaf; the presence of the numbered 1,250-copy limitation statement in blue cloth confirms the 1920 Seltzer private first.
• Sea and Sardinia — 1921 · Thomas SeltzerTrue first edition published by Thomas Seltzer, New York, 1921 (late 1921; Roberts A20), illustrated with eight color plates by Jan Juta plus a map plate. Recognized first-edition point: line 3 of page 127 is printed upside down (present in all first-edition copies, per Roberts). Bound in green paper-covered boards with a tan / buff cloth spine and printed paper label; the eight Juta plates and the p.127 error…. American true first: Thomas Seltzer (New York), 1921, precedes the first English edition, Martin Secker (London), 1923, by about two years. Both are collected, but the Seltzer is the true first; the Secker (brown cloth, reusing a Juta plate on the jacket) is a first-English / first-thus. Census precedence confirmed. The 1923 Secker London edition is the first English edition (first-thus), not the true first. Later reprints omit the original Seltzer plates/format and the p.127 point.
• Aaron's Rod — 1922 · Thomas SeltzerTrue first edition published by Thomas Seltzer, New York, April 1922 (Roberts A21a); title page dated 1922 with no additional printing statement on the copyright page. Bound in vertical-ruled grey-blue ribbed cloth lettered on spine and upper cover — Roberts records variant bindings (lettering seen in gilt and in blue) with no established priority among the variants — and the first-issue dust jacket carries the…. American true first: Thomas Seltzer (New York), April 1922, precedes the first English edition, Martin Secker (London), June 1922, by roughly two months. The Secker edition is textually expurgated (Secker cut passages over a character's possible identification with Norman Douglas), so the Seltzer is both the earlier and the complete true first. Census precedence confirmed. The Martin Secker (London) June 1922 edition is a first-English / first-thus and is bowdlerized — not the true first. Later Seltzer printings bear printing statements and are readily distinguished from the April 1922 first.
• The Plumed Serpent — 1926 · Martin SeckerFirst edition published by Martin Secker, London, January 1926, in an edition of about 3,000 copies; octavo, 476 pp, the title page reading 'The Plumed Serpent (Quetzalcoatl).' Bound in brown/chocolate cloth, blind-ruled, with the spine lettered in gilt, and issued in a tan dust jacket lettered in red — the priced jacket present at the flap, and the jacket is uncommon. There is no number line; the first printing…. British true first: Martin Secker (London), January 1926, precedes the first American edition, Alfred A. Knopf (New York), February 1926, which was set from new plates. Both are collected, but the Secker holds precedence; the Knopf is the first American, not a precedence rival. A second Secker impression followed in March 1926, so confirm the January 1926 first by the imprint and the lack of a later-printing notice. No book-club edition is documented among the early printings.
• Mornings in Mexico signed first — 1927 · KnopfThe Knopf first American edition of Mornings in Mexico is dated 1927 on the title page with no statement of a later printing, which is correct for Knopf in this period. It is bound in publisher's decorated orange cloth, lettered and ornamented in green and black on the upper cover and spine, and carries the Borzoi colophon. The essays were written out of Lawrence's time at the Kiowa Ranch near Taos and in Oaxaca.…. The London edition (Martin Secker) and the New York edition (Alfred A. Knopf) both appeared in 1927. The Secker edition is generally taken as the true first; the Knopf 1927 printing is the first American edition and is itself a genuine first of the American issue (Roberts A34). Book-club editions and later printings reprint the text but are not the first edition and are far less collectible. Borzoi colophon and “A Note on the Type” page authenticate genuine Knopf production rather than a book club reprint. Use the points above to be certain — see book-club edition vs. first edition.
• Lady Chatterley's Lover — 1928 · Privately printedTrue first (Roberts A42a): privately printed in Florence, 1928, limited to 1,000 numbered copies SIGNED by Lawrence and issued by subscription; the unexpurgated text. Bound in mulberry-colored paper boards with the black phoenix device on the upper cover and a white paper label on the spine. Printed by the Tipografia Giuntina under the direction of the Florentine bookseller Giuseppe ('Pino') Orioli. The author's…. The 1928 Florence private printing of 1,000 signed copies is the true first (Roberts A42a); there is no earlier edition. Two later editions are frequently confused with it but do NOT displace it: the 1929 Paris 'popular edition' (Edward Titus, c. 3,000 copies, unexpurgated, with Lawrence's new introduction 'My Skirmish with Jolly Roger') was AUTHORIZED by Lawrence himself to undercut the pirates — later than…. Precedence traps to watch: (1) an UNSIGNED 'Florence 1928' copy is almost certainly the second issue — the c. 200-copy 'cheap paper' printing on common paper (Roberts A42b, late 1928), not the true first; (2) the 1932 Martin Secker (London) and Alfred A. Knopf (New York) trade editions are AUTHORIZED but EXPURGATED/abridged, and are the copies most often missold as the 'first edition' — neither the first nor the….
• The Virgin and the Gipsy — 1930 · G. OrioliFirst edition privately printed for G. (Pino) Orioli, Florence, May 1930, as No. 4 in the Lungarno Series, limited to 810 numbered copies on Binda handmade paper. Bound in cream/ivory paper boards, the upper board blocked in orange-red with Lawrence's phoenix device, the spine with a printed paper label (a spare label frequently tipped in at the rear), edges uncut; issued in a green paper dust jacket printed in…. The original true first is the Florence (Orioli) limited edition of May 1930, published two months after Lawrence's death. It precedes both the first English trade edition, Martin Secker (London), October 1930, and the first American edition, Alfred A. Knopf (New York), November 1930; all three are collected but the Florence issue holds precedence. The Secker (London) and Knopf (New York) trade editions of late 1930 are separate later editions, not reprints of the Florence issue, and do not carry its limitation. No book-club edition is documented for the first appearance.

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