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About This Item
Methuen, London., 1915. First edition. Octavo. 463 pages. Four-page publishers' catalogue, dated Autumn 1915, at rear. 2500 copies printed, of which about half were destroyed when the book was deemed by magistrates to be obscene. On the title-page is the publisher's presentation ink-stamp from which one can infer that this is a pre-publication copy and which no doubt explains how it escaped the pulpers.Small nick to top edge of front free endpaper. Some slight fading to front cover. Small snags to tail of spine. Very good. No dustwrapper.
Synopsis
D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow follows three generations of the Brangwen family, with a particular focus on the sexual dynamics of, and relations between, the characters. Tom Brangwen, who is… let’s say “not the brightest,” succeeds to his father’s farm and falls in love with Lydia Lensky, a Polish widow; Anna, Lydia’s daughter (and Tom’s stepdaughter), marries Will, a distant relative of Tom’s; Anna and Will’s oldest daughter, Ursula, is a modern working woman. For Tom Brangwen’s generation sex happens, but between the lines. For Anna and Will, bodies are alluded to and desires described. By the time Ursula Brangwen is a young woman, sex is frequent and directly addressed. This depiction of sexual desire as a natural force — perhaps spiritual, even! — caused quite a stir upon The Rainbow’s publication. The novel was almost instantly removed from the shelves of bookstores across the UKcountry and was then prosecuted in an obscenity trial in a British Magistrates’ court in November 1915, just two months after its release. As a result, roughly half of the copies of the novel’s original print run of were seized and burnt. The Rainbow was unavailable in the UK for 11 years following. Lawrence initially conceived The Rainbow and what became its sequel, Women in Love, as a single novel titled The Sisters. However, after much revision, that manuscript became two of the author’s greatest novels. The Rainbow is ranked 48th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century; Women in Love is ranked 49th.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Rainbow.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Peter Ellis bookseller
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- LAWRENCE015090
- Title
- The Rainbow.
- Author
- LAWRENCE, D.H
- Book Condition
- Used
- Publisher
- Methuen, London.
- Date Published
- 1915
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Peter Ellis bookseller
Biblio member since 2009
LONDON
About Peter Ellis bookseller
A shop in one of the last remaining bookselling enclaves of London, with a carefully selected stock of modern first editions, art and illustrated books, travel literature and other subjects. Known for books in fine condition.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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