Sons and Lovers

Though it is the author’s third novel, Sons and Lovers is often regarded as D.H. Lawrence’s masterpiece. The autobiographical work, which was originally titled Paul Morel after its protagonist, was set in motion with the death of Lawrence’s mother, Lydia. The author used the opportunity to reexamine his childhood, his relationship with his mother, and her psychological effect on his sexuality.

Sons and Lovers had already been rejected by one publisher when Lawrence sent the manuscript to Edward Garnett of Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd. Garnett made extensive editing suggestions and still — after Lawrence rewrote the manuscript for the fourth time — cut 80 passages, about 10% of the work, before its 1913 publication.

At the time of publication, Sons and Lovers was criticized for being obscene. But the novel endured. It has been adapted for film multiple times, including the Academy Award winning 1960 film. The Modern Library placed it ninth on their list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.

Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd. first published Sons and Lovers in the UK in 1913. First editions have dark blue binding, gold lettering stamped on the upper cover and spine, and a 20-page segment of publisher's advertisements at the end. There are at least two or three issues of the first edition: copies have been noted both with the bound-in title without date and with the tipped-in title with the date on the copyright page.

In 1992, Cambridge University Press published the first edition of Sons and Lovers in which the missing text was restored. Edited by Helen and Carl Baron, this notable edition is bound in red cloth and stamped in gold on the spine. In the UK, 1,100 copies were published September 1992. The US edition was then published in August of that year. Unfortunately, the press published many new errors along with the restored text. The Penguin edition of the Cambridge text, also edited by the Barons, was the first edition to have corrected the new errors. Sixteen thousand copies were published August 1994.