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NEW POEMS
Published October 1918
New Poems / By / D. H. / Lawrence / London / Martin Secker / MCMXVIII
Collation:—pp. 64, consisting of half-title (with list of three books of Poems by the Same Author at head; and acknowledgement, Two of these poems have appeared in the English Review. at foot of verso), pp. (1, 2); title-page, as above (with dedication, To / Amy Lowell at head; and printers’ imprint, Printed in England by the Westminster Press / 411a, Harrow Road, London at foot of verso), pp. (3, 4); table of Contents, pp. 5, 6; text, 7-64.
Crown 8vo, 7½ × 4⅞; issued in grey wrappers; front cover has two-line border in blue, and is lettered in blue as follows: New / Poems / By / D. H. / Lawrence / London / Martin Secker / MCMXVIII (All this lettering enclosed by elongated box formed by two vertical lines inside border). Inside front cover, back strip, inside back cover are blank. Back cover lettered in blue as follows: (Publisher’s device, with name, Martin Secker) / xvii Buckingham Street / Adelphi Top and fore edges cut; bottom edges untrimmed.
The first edition of New Poems was printed on what must have been almost the worst of all possible war-time paper; and since, in addition, the book lacked the security of a substantial “case,” I suspect this item will before long become scarce.
The first American edition of New Poems was published, from new plates, by B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1920. This edition, too, has an interest for the Lawrence collector; it contains a significant prefatory essay, which is not in the English issue, and which, Mr. Lawrence says, “should have come as a preface to Look! We Have Come Through!” This “Preface” is notable for its lucid and brilliant comment on the nature of poetry. One finds Mr. Lawrence recurring to some of the tenets here expressed, when on those too few later occasions he has commented on the poetry of others, more especially on that of Whitman. This essay first appeared in The Playboy, Numbers 4-5 (not dated), under the title “The Poetry of the Present.”
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BAY: A BOOK OF POEMS
Published November 1919
Bay (two dots) A Book / Of (two dots) Poems (two dots) By / D : H : Lawrence