INTRODUCTION
This book, a record of the published writings of Mr. D. H. Lawrence, follows the general plan of theCentaur Bibliographieswhich have preceded it. The opening section contains collations of the first issues of Mr. Lawrence’s books, twenty-seven in all. Among these collations is that ofMovements in European History, a book written by Mr. Lawrence, published under thenom de plumeLawrence H. Davison, and never heretofore openly attributed to him. Many of the collations are accompanied by notes. Some of these discuss bibliographical points which could not be adequately covered in the more technical descriptions of the books; others estimate the relative scarcity of the various items, or give information about interesting editions after the first; a few are critical.
Since ten of Mr. Lawrence’s books were first published in America, some consistent method had to be found for ranking the American “firsts” of an English author. The plan adopted for this work was to list the first publication of each book, regardless of place of publication, as the real first edition of that book. It was difficult to escape the logic and common-sense of this solution of a vexing problem. But because the whimseys, prejudices, and sentiments of book-collectors are often notoriously free from logical or sensible restraints, all of the first English editions of Mr. Lawrence are fully described, even though someof them appeared months after the corresponding American editions.
Preceding each collation, the year, the month, and, in important instances, the day of publication are given. This information, for the American books, was supplied especially by Mr. B. W. Huebsch and Mr. Thomas Seltzer. Similar information about the English books was received from Mr. Lawrence’s London publishers, but only in part; in the main, the year and the month of publication were taken from theEnglish Catalogue of Books. Information from this source does not always agree absolutely with publishers’ records; but it was usually accepted as sufficiently accurate, since the month of publication at least is oftener a nice refinement in a bibliography than a significant fact. So much for the first section of this study.
The other sections are: Translation; Contributions to Books; Contributions to Periodicals; Studies and Reviews. All but the first of these require some special comment.
In cataloguing Mr. Lawrence’s writings every reasonable effort was made (with what success cannot now be told) to insure a complete record of his numerous and varied contributions to books. In this business it is plainly impossible to be sure that some items have not been overlooked. Without in the least attempting to disarm criticism, one may properly call attention to the great difficulty of running down anthologies of modern poetry and prose, to the making of which there seems, indeed, to be no end. Added to this is the even greater difficulty of ascertaining what these anthologies contain, without examining each one separately. There simply isn’t an index of moderncollections of poetry. And indices of the short story leave much to be discovered elsewhere.
Nevertheless, under Contributions to Books are listed some thirty volumes with Lawrence material. They are treated in two ways: the books which contain Lawrence “first printings between boards” are fully described and annotated; those which include reprintings only are not described, but the extent and the source of Mr. Lawrence’s contributions to them are noted. The former are genuine Lawrence items and should be in a comprehensive collection of his writings.
In the fourth section of this study will be found an approximately complete record of Mr. Lawrence’s contributions to periodicals. These contributions are not, everything considered, numerous. There are reasons for this. It has not been Mr. Lawrence’s custom to publish novels serially. He is not a voluminous writer of short stories, contenting himself, evidently, with being a great one. He has never been much given to reviewing, or to any other sort of hack-writing. Plainly, these are not Mr. Lawrence’s ways of keeping the pot boiling.
But numerous or not, the contributions to periodicals are often of great interest—even for reasons unrelated to technical bibliography. For example, many American reviewers ofStudies in Classic American Literature, published August, 1923, were bewildered by what they considered a surprise attack along our Parnassian front. Others, less alarmed but scarcely more informed, found a direct connection between the book and Mr. Lawrence’s visits to our shores in 1922 and 1923. “Obviously,” theyseemed to reason, “the author of this volume came toThese Statesfor a first-hand view of our literary shrines, and here is the critical account of his pilgrimage.” All very interesting, if true. In point of fact, long before 1923 many of the studies, in their first forms, lay quietly inurned, but recoverable, in the files of theEnglish Review. The earliest study goes back to November, 1918, and most of the others followed hard upon the first.
There is, too, something for the collector among the contributions to periodicals. Items of particular interest to him are commented upon. In this connection, a special effort was made to list the Lawrence material in out-of-the-way magazines. Some of this sort to which Mr. Lawrence contributed were, alas, not long for this hard world.The Blue Review,The Signature, andThe Seven Artsare typical examples of such ephemera.
Although perhaps a majority of Mr. Lawrence’s contributions to periodicals were subsequently used in certain of his works, many remain uncollected. The notes which follow the separate items will usually enable the curious to distinguish the collected from the uncollected. They will also show that Mr. Lawrence often altered the titles of poems and stories before including them in his books. But there the notes stop. No consistent effort was made to deal with the larger phase of Mr. Lawrence’s textual revisions. That lies outside the scope of this volume. However, a comparison, say, of the stories inThe Prussian Officerwith their first published forms will show that Mr. Lawrence’s revisions go much beyond titles.
Regarding the chronological lists of Studies and Reviewslittle need be said—except perhaps in apology. They do not, strictly, belong in a volume of this sort, but were finally included for whatever value they might have as an index to the critical comment on Mr. Lawrence’s writings since the publication ofThe White Peacock. The lists make no claim to completeness. Nevertheless, they are probably more inclusive than they should be. Along with much that is fine, they contain much that is pointless and futile. But this is not surprising: the average critic sitting in judgment of Mr. Lawrence is quicklyau bout de son latin.
Such, then, is the general plan of this bibliographical study. Designed primarily to meet the needs of Lawrence collectors, it will also be serviceable to students of what is now the most brilliant and challenging career in really contemporary English literature. And it may have a further use. Although Mr. Lawrence is quite without the sort of pride in authorship that busies itself with shapes of books or records of publications, he may nevertheless find in this glorified card-index some usefulness. If so, I shall be repaid for the making of it.
And now a word of thanks for help on this book must go especially to Mr. Lawrence, to Mr. Harold T. Mason, to Mr. David Jester, Jr., and to Mr. Carroll Frey. Mr. Lawrence first told me aboutMovements in European History, and he has generously forwarded my work in other ways. The intrepid publishers of this volume made it possible for me to examine duplicates of the various Lawrence items, and Mr. Mason’s knowledge of the investiture of the books herein described was frequentlydrawn upon. Mr. Frey helped with the typography—which in a book like the present is no small matter. I am also indebted to a number of people, both in England and America, for replies to many sorts of questions.
An appropriate conclusion to this introduction would be, I have no doubt, a solemn recital of the General Confession. But there’s no good here prating of things done or left undone. There simply isn’t. Bibliolatry has its virtues, but sweet charity is not among them. Indeed she’s not. All this by way of letting the users of this book know that reports of my sins of omission and commission will be received with true stoical fortitude.
Edward D. McDonald
PhiladelphiaOctober 15, 1924