Women in Love
D.H. Lawrence, 1921
LAWRENCE, D.H. (1885-1930). Women in Love. London: Martin Secker, 1921.

First trade edition of Lawrence's most experimental novel, preserved in the rare and near fine dust jacket. Radically critical of modern British society, Women in Love moves beyond the realism of his earlier works, particularly in the rejected notion of a fixed moral character. Lawrence insisted that “you mustn’t look in my novel for the old stable ego of the character”, while also referring to this work as the one in which he had “knocked the first loop-hole in the prison where we are all shut up.” This is the earliest state of the text, with the "girl with dark, soft, fluffy hair" on p.63. Roberts A15c.

Octavo. 4pp. of advertisements at end (text leaves lightly toned). Original brown cloth; dust jacket (a few small chips at extremities, a few faint spots); custom box.