THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY.
Florence: G. Orioli, 1930. Original cream paper boards decorated in orange-red, with printed spine label, with dust jacket.
First Edition (issued as No. 4 in the publisher's "Lungarno Series"), consisting of 810 numbered copies -- of which this is No. 743. Lawrence had actually written this back in late 1925, after he and Frieda had returned from Taos to Europe for the last time. This Florence edition came out in May 1930, two months after D.H. Lawrence died in France; Secker's UK edition and Knopf's US edition came out that October and November respectively. It is the tale of the virginal daughter of a rector in a secluded English village, who yearns for something beyond what she knows, when a swarthy gipsy happens along... -- the basis for the 1970 film starring Honor Blackman.
This volume is in fine condition, without soil or wear, and includes the spare label tipped in at the back; "fine" also describes the jacket ("... a green paper dust-jacket printed in black which is usually found to be faded to a brown colour" [Roberts]. Roberts A54. Housed in a handsome clamshell case of marbled boards, black leather spine, and red leather label. Item #15137
Price: $750.00