[Rarebooks] LOST GIRL: A SPECIAL OFFER

[Stephen Johnson]

Lawrence, D. H. [Lawrence, David Herbert]
The Lost Girl; TOGETHER WITH an Manuscript Letter [Post Card] from D.H.
Lawrence to Hubert Loss

London: Martin Secker, 1920. First Edition. Hardcover. TEMPORARILY
DISCOUNTED. WAS $6,250. NOW $3,425. A remarkably SCARCE copy of the
hard-to-find first edition, first printing / first issue [or mixed first
issue and second issue with pages 256 and 268 not tipped in as in the first
issue but with the phrase "in the bed" dropped from the end of chapter III
as in the second issue [see Roberts and Schwartz] -- also all of the pages
appear to integral but the reading of the last line of Chapter III shows
that "in the bed" has been dropped-- the presence of which phrase Schwartz
states is required for the first state [but see NOTE below] of the English
edition in a Very Good SCARCE TO RARE dust jacket dust jacket with evidence
of tape still present on the jacket's verso and shadows of which can be
seen on the jacket's recto, and two leaves, those hosting pp 141/142 and
143/144 having a tear with loss to their upper leading margins without
affecting the text., and being an otherwise Near Fine copy of the first
edition, first printing of the notable work which won the 1920 James Tait
Black Memorial Prize in the fiction category (a Literary Prize originally
awarded only in Fiction and then later also in Biography and Drama, the
Prize originally having been created by the widow of James Tait Black of A
& C Black Ltd. fame. [Notably the Prize also has been awarded to Noble
Prize Winners in Literature William Golding, Nadine Gordimer, and J. M.
Coetzee, and Cormac McCarthy also has won the Prize, as well as have Hugh
Walpole, Walter de la Mare, E. M. Forster, Liam O'Flaherty, Siegfried
Sassoon, C. S. Forester, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, C. P.
Snow, Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Durrell, Salman Rushdie, John le
Carré, Ian McEwan, and others.] The first American edition of "Lost Girl"
was not published until 1921.); TOGETHER WITH: A QUITE RELEVANT AUTOGRAPH
LETTER SIGNED written on both sides of PostCard measuring 3 1/2 inches x 5
1/2 inches to Hubert Loss, the assistant editor of Land and Water
concerning this novel and written and signed in dark ink "D. H. Lawrence");
FURTHER TOGETHER WITH with a modern copy of a photograph of D. H. Lawrence.
The letter, in relevant part reads: "Have you received the MS. of my novel
The Lost Girl [underlined], which I posted to you exactly a month ago…I
should be glad to know. // If you have this MS. and Secker wants it to make
corrections in his uncorrected copy, please let him have it. But if The
Queen [underlined] would like to see the book, and if 'She' could read it
in a week or so, perhaps let her have it first [underlined], because if
once Secker gets it there is no knowing when he will part from it again: he
would only need [underlined] to keep it a few days. Hope it has
arrived....D.H.Lawrence".

The book and its loosely-laid-in items are housed in a quarter-leather
slipcase lettered (lightly decorated) and dated on the buttressed spine in
gilt with the edges of the leather lined in gilt. It is the first issue of
the book


* `The Queen` here is not a reference to royalty, but rather to a
publication that Lawrence had hoped would serialize his work. Despite his
desire and negotiations, that wish never came to fruition. The novel -
which Lawrence started to write in 1913 before setting it aside for several
years - eventually receiving the blessing of Secker, the London publisher
responsible for producing Lawrence's works. Secker, in fact, purportedly
told the author, 'I am quite sure of your future' upon reading it, although
at the time it never became the popular success that he had hoped.
Published in 1920, The Lost Girl was Lawrence's sixth novel and won the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

Queen magazine was a British society publication briefly established by
Samuel Beeton in 1861. It became The Queen: The Ladies Newspaper and Court
Chronicle before returning to The Queen.

Queen (originally The Queen) magazine was a British society publication
briefly established by Samuel Beeton in 1861. It became The Queen: The
Ladies Newspaper and Court Chronicle before returning to The Queen. In
1958, the magazine was sold to Jocelyn Stevens, who dropped the prefix
"The" and used it as his vehicle to represent the younger side of the
British Establishment, sometimes referred to as the "Chelsea Set" under the
editorial direction of Beatrix Miller. In 1964, the magazine gave birth to
Radio Caroline, the first daytime commercial pirate radio station serving
London, England. Stevens sold Queen in 1968. From 1970, the new publication
became known as Harper's & Queen after a merger of two publications: Queen
and Harper's Bazaar UK, until the name Queen was dropped altogether from
the masthead. It is now known as Harper's Bazaar.

[NOTE: The last page of Chapter III from which the phrase "in the bed" has
been dropped is page 47. Page 48 hosts the first page of Chapter IV and the
leaves hosting pages 47 and 48 are uncut at the leading edge, thus were
printed at the same time and are not listed by either Roberts or Schwartz
as having been tipped in. Yet, Schwartz states that the absence of the
phrase is evidence of the first edition, second state. Another
characteristic of the second state per Schwartz is that page 268 is tipped
in. However, the leaves hosting pp 265 through 268 and those hosting pp/269
through 272 are unopened at their leading edge thus could not be tipped in
as most of them are not listed as such. [As a further matter, none of the
typography on page 242 is transposed and Roberts cites such transposed type
as characteristic of the first edition, third state.] In consequence of the
forgoing, we are unsure of what state of the first edition (first, second,
third) this copy constitutes. Nevertheless, with the DUST JACKET AND POST
CARD WRITTEN AND SIGNED BY LAWRENCE, THIS IS A RARE COPY. Near fine / very
good. Item #3623

Price: $3,425.00
Stephen Johnson
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC
Rare and Collectible Books, both Antiquarian and Modern
www.allingtonbooks.com
336-414-0435