# Is "The White Peacock" by D. H. Lawrence a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The White Peacock by D. H. Lawrence (Duffield & Company, 1911) is identified by: Duffield & Company, New York, published 19 January 1911 — Lawrence's first book (McDonald 1A; Roberts & Poplawski A1a). Precedence confirmed, motive corrected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Duffield & 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 first-issue point
- McDonald's 1925 collation records the 1910 notice as the state of the American book, copyright proceedings having begun in both countries in 1910
- Collation pp. viii + 496: blank leaf, half-title, title, table of contents, Part I fly-leaf, text pp
- 3-496, with divisional fly-leaves at pp
- Publisher imprint reads Duffield & Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | D. H. Lawrence |
| Publisher | Duffield & Company |
| Year | 1911 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Duffield & Company, New York, published 19 January 1911 — Lawrence's first book (McDonald 1A; Roberts & Poplawski A1a) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Duffield & 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 first-issue point; McDonald's 1925 collation records the 1910 notice as the state of the American book, copyright proceedings having begun in both countries in 1910. Collation pp. viii + 496: blank leaf, half-title, title, table of contents, Part I fly-leaf, text pp. 3-496, with divisional fly-leaves at pp. (1), (189) and (359). Crown 8vo; light blue cloth; the front cover has a spread peacock in white and dark blue above a dark blue rule and a heavier broken rule, with 'The White Peacock / D. H. Lawrence' lettered in white, all within a single-rule dark blue border; spine lettered in white 'The / White / Peacock / (rule) / Lawrence / Duffield'; back cover blank; all edges cut; white endpapers.

## Is this the true first?
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 was issued a day early 'to secure copyright' is not supported and is dropped. Both editions are collected, and the Heinemann carries the more significant textual point. Heinemann was printed from plates imported from Duffield; its verso reads 'Copyright, London, 1911, by William Heinemann, and Washington, U.S.A., by Duffield and Company'; it has no printer's imprint at all (McDonald records the omission as accidental). After the English sheets were bound a paragraph was bowdlerized and replaced, so Heinemann copies normally show a tipped-in cancel leaf at pp. 229/230 — the Duffield text is unaltered, which is precisely why McDonald collated the American edition. Heinemann: pp. iv + 496; greenish dark blue cloth, a three-panel black rectangle across the front cover with title and author in white in the middle panel and conventionalized rose-bush designs in the end panels; spine gilt with 'Heinemann' at foot; top and fore edges cut, bottom edges untrimmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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 be downgraded. One caution: dealers' use of 'first issue' for the 1910 copyright notice implies a later Duffield state bearing a 1911 notice, but McDonald's collation records only the 1910 notice; treat any claim of a '1911 copyright' Duffield state as unconfirmed until it is collated against a bibliography.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The White Peacock* by D. H. Lawrence a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-white-peacock
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.