“PRESENTED TO CONSTANCE CHATTERLEY FOR SUCCESS”: FIRST EDITION OF GREEN'S SKETCHING FROM NATURE, WITH A FASCINATING D.H. LAWRENCE ASSOCIATION

(LAWRENCE, D.H.) GREEN, N.E. Hints on Sketching from Nature. London: George Rowney, circa 1900. Octavo, original gilt- and blind-stamped dark orange cloth, all edges gilt. $1250.

Later edition of this work on sketching natural landscapes, a fascinating presentation copy to Constance Chatterley, a friend of D.H. Lawrence’s and the apparent namesake for Constance Reid, a.k.a. “Lady Chatterley” in Lawrence's classic novel.

This lovely and popular text on sketching the natural world contains eight color plates, 16 tinted lithographic plates, and numerous in-text black-and-white illustrations. The bookplate in this volume states that the Art Class of Eastwood (the mining town where D.H. was raised) has presented this book "to Constance Chatterley for success." Chatterley was evidently the namesake for Lady Chatterley (maiden name Constance Reid) in Lady Chatterley's Lover. The novel's Lady Chatterley is widely believed to have been based on Lawrence's wife, Frieda von Richthofen, who took up with an Italian soldier while Lawrence was suffering from tuberculosis.

A beautiful copy with an intriguing association.