(1)
THE WHITE PEACOCK
Published January 1911
The / White Peacock / By / D. H. Lawrence / (publisher’s device) / London / William Heinemann / 1911
Collation:—pp. iv + 496, consisting of half-title (with list of New 6s. Novels—eleven items—in upper left of verso), pp. (i, ii); title-page, as above (with Copyright, London, 1911, by William Heinemann, and Washington, U.S.A., / by Duffield and Company at foot of verso), pp. (iii, iv); fly-leaf, with Part I and signature 1 on recto (verso blank), pp. (1, 2); text, pp. 3-496. There is no printer’s imprint. There are divisional fly-leaves, which mark the three parts of the book, at pp. (1, 2), (189, 190), (359, 360). Pp. (2), (188), (190), (358), (360) blank.
Crown 8vo, 7⁷⁄₁₆ × 4¾; issued in greenish dark blue cloth; front cover has across top three-panel rectangular form in black, middle panel of which encloses lettering and ornamentation in white as follows: The White / Peacock / (three dots) / D. H. / Lawrence; end panels enclose conventionalized rose-bush designs in black. Backbone ornamented and lettered across in gilt: (heavy line) / The White / Peacock / (three dots) / D. H. / Lawrence / (heavy line) / (heavy line) / Heinemann / (heavy line). Back cover has at center blind stamp of publisher’s device. Top and fore edges cut; bottom edges untrimmed. End-papers white.
The White Peacock, Mr. Lawrence’s first book, was published by William Heinemann from plates imported from Duffield and Company, New York. The omission of the English printer’s imprint was, however, accidental, not intentional. The exact date of the publication of the English edition was January 20, 1911, while that of the American issue was January 19. It is evident, therefore, that The White Peacock was meant to appear simultaneously in England and America. The book was, of course, manufactured late in 1910, and copyright proceedings were begun in both countries in this year, which is, in fact, given in the copyright notice in the American book.
The first binding order on the English White Peacock, I am informed by William Heinemann, Ltd., was for 750 copies. The second binding order was for a like number. The two bindings differ on one point. The first has a blind stamp of the Heinemann device, the wind-mill, on the back cover; the second has not. However, both “cases,” which are otherwise alike, contain the first printed sheets. The inadvertent omission of the stamp from the second binding is the sort of variation which often occurs when the same sheets are bound at different times.
Copies of the first edition of The White Peacock are now genuinely scarce. The book is seldom listed in catalogues, where later Lawrence items are usually to be found. It is well known that certain books of comparatively recent publication tend, for one reason or another, to disappear. These are often first books, the initial editions of which are seldom large. The White Peacock, a notable first novel, is a good example of this tendency. I believe that the Heinemann White Peacock is as scarce as the Methuen Rainbow, universally regarded as the rarest Lawrence item. Certain it is that I have seen more copies of The Rainbow in fine condition than I have seen of The White Peacock in any condition.
Collectors who have a copy of this book, and who are curious about Mr. Lawrence’s comment on the textual change made after the sheets were bound, will probably find a tipped-in leaf at pages 229 and 230. I have examined only four copies. All of these had the inserted leaf. I suspect the bowdlerizing was efficient and thorough, but I cannot, under the circumstances, be sure. However, in connection with this textual change appears my reason for including a collation of the American first edition of this book. The Duffield text is unaltered, as a comparison of the English and American editions of 1911 will show.