Is My Lady Chatterley's Lover a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True 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 signature and the hand-numbered limitation leaf (numbered to 1,000) are the core points

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

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 Florence, but not a piracy; and the numerous 1928-29 pirated editions are unauthorized. The first unexpurgated UK trade edition did not appear until Penguin's 1960 post-trial printing, which is collected as a separate landmark.P-036560

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

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 full text; (3) numerous 1928-29 piracies imitate the Florence sheets. The genuine first is signed, hand-numbered to 1,000, in mulberry boards with the phoenix, of Giuntina/Orioli origin.P-036561

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover a first edition?

A first edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (Privately printed) is identified by: True first (Roberts A42a): privately printed in Florence, 1928, limited to 1,000 numbered copies SIGNED by Lawrence and issued by subscription; the unexpurgated text.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The 1928 Florence private printing of 1,000 signed copies is the true first (Roberts A42a); there is no earlier edition.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

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 full text; (3) numerous 1928-29 piracies imitate the Florence sheets. The genuine fi

I have a first edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.