PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION COPY OF DAVID, BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY D.H. LAWRENCE IN THE YEAR OF HIS DEATH TO HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS, EARL AND ACHSAH BREWSTER, PROMINENT ARTISTS AND THE PUBLISHERS OF LAWRENCE'S MEMOIRS

LAWRENCE, D.H. David. A Play. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. Octavo, original orange and purple paper boards. $1500.

First American edition, presentation copy, of Lawrence's Biblical play, inscribed on the half title by D.H. Lawrence to his “closest friends,” Earl and Achsah Brewster: “Earl + Achsah from D.H. Lawrence.”

Written by acclaimed novelist D.H. Lawrence, David was "a play of ideas using a Biblical framework" (University of North Carolina). A contemporary reviewer in The Literary Digest International Book Review raved: "Lawrence's great gift for language serves him well in his dramatic recreation of the story of David… Its 16 scenes are built up, detail by detail, in superb rhythms intensely felt, and are rich in imagery curiously Hebraic in mood. And withal there is a simplicity, fitting to the text… Lovers of good literature can not afford to miss this play." This is the first American edition, published only months after the first English edition. Roberts A34. This copy is inscribed to Lawrence's friends, Earl and Achsah Brewster. Lawrence first met Earl Brewster and his wife Achsah Brewster in 1921 in Capri. The couple, American artists who shared Lawrence's love of travel, were his "closest friends in the 1920s" (Meyers, 251). The couple had a great influence on Lawrence's literary works, with Lawrence claiming that Earl had given him the idea for his last novel, The Escaped Cock. Achsah was one of only 10 people to attend Lawrence's funeral, and "the Brewsters were among the very few of Lawrence's friends who never turned on him or against whom he never felt anger or disappointment" (Roberts in Meyers, 134). The Brewsters published a memoir of the author in 1934, entitled D.H. Lawrence: Reminiscences and Correspondence. Lawrence signed this book four months before his death.

Text clean and fine, original boards bright, expert restoration to original spine. A very good copy with a wonderful association.