The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D H
D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow follows three generations of the Brangwen family, with a particular focus on the sexual dynamics of, and relations between, the characters. Tom Brangwen, who is… let’s say “not the brightest,” succeeds to his father’s farm and falls in love with Lydia Lensky, a Polish widow; Anna, Lydia’s daughter (and Tom’s stepdaughter), marries Will, a distant relative of Tom’s; Anna and Will’s oldest daughter, Ursula, is a modern working woman.
For Tom Brangwen’s generation sex happens, but between the lines. For Anna and Will, bodies are alluded to and desires described. By the time Ursula Brangwen is a young woman, sex is frequent and directly addressed. This depiction of sexual desire as a natural force — perhaps spiritual, even! — caused quite a stir upon The Rainbow’s publication. The novel was almost instantly removed from the shelves of bookstores across the UKcountry and was then prosecuted in an obscenity trial in a British Magistrates’ court in November 1915, just two months after its release. As a result, roughly half of the copies of the novel’s original print run of were seized and burnt. The Rainbow was unavailable in the UK for 11 years following.
Lawrence initially conceived The Rainbow and what became its sequel, Women in Love, as a single novel titled The Sisters. However, after much revision, that manuscript became two of the author’s greatest novels. The Rainbow is ranked 48th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century; Women in Love is ranked 49th.
First Edition Identification
Methuen & Co. first published The Rainbow in London in 1915. Signed first editions have sold for upwards of $8,000.
Other Collectible or Notable Editions
B.W. Huebsch published the first US edition of The Rainbow in New York in 1915.
Reviews
Review this book!
Available Copies
THE RAINBOW
by Lawrence, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- Reprint
- Published
- 1980
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Buffalo, Wyoming, USA
- Item Price
-
€18.73
Show Details
The Rainbow
by LAWRENCE, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - near fine
- Edition
- First
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
New York, New York, USA
- Item Price
-
€1,872.60
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Woodstock, Illinois, USA
- Item Price
-
€1,643.21
Show Details
The Rainbow [with] Women in Love. [First appearances in Penguin.] THE BRANGWEN DUOLOGY: FIRST APPEARANCE IN PENGUIN
by LAWRENCE D. H.
- Condition
- Used
- Published
- [1949, 1960]
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Thakeham, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
-
€132.24
Show Details
The Rainbow
by D H Lawrence
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Petworth, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
-
€1,033.11
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D. H.
- Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Published
- 1949
- Binding
- Paperback
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Port Colborne, Ontario, CAN
- Item Price
-
€18.73
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D. H.
- Condition
- Used - Publisher's blue cloth, spine stamped in gilt. Touch of wear to tips, else a fine copy in a custom blue morocco slipcase and che
- Edition
- First edition
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- [viii], 463, [1], [4, ads] pp. 8vo
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
New York, New York, USA
- Item Price
-
€3,042.98
Show Details
The Rainbow
by D H Lawrence
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- None
- Edition
- 1st American Ed
- Published
- 1916
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Hudson, Florida, USA
- Item Price
-
€238.76
Show Details
The Rainbow
by LAWRENCE, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Published
- 1916
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA
- Item Price
-
€2,808.90
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D. H.
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0140006923
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
-
€1.75
Show Details
The Rainbow
by LAWRENCE, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - Fine
- Published
- 1916
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA
- Item Price
-
€936.30
Show Details
The Rainbow
by D.H. Lawrence
- Condition
- Used
- Published
- 1957
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Alameda, California, USA
- Item Price
-
€14.04
Show Details
The Rainbow (Collector's Library)
by Lawrence, D. H.
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 1904919650
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
-
€23.60
Show Details
The Rainbow.
by Lawrence, D.H
- Condition
- Used
- Published
- 1961
- ISBN 10
- 0670000779
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Skibbereen, IRL
- Item Price
-
€78.00
Show Details
The Rainbow Lawrence, D. H
by Lawrence, D. H
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Published
- 1981-03-26
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0140006923
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Doncaster, South Yorkshire, GBR
- Item Price
-
€8.19
Show Details
The Rainbow (Wordsworth Classics)
by D.H. Lawrence
- Condition
- Used; Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 1853262501
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire, GBR
- Item Price
-
€4.11
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D.H
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- 7th Printing
- Published
- 1987
- Binding
- Trade Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0140119809
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Webster, New York, USA
- Item Price
-
€4.68
Show Details
The Rainbow
by Lawrence, D.H.
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hard Cover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, USA
- Item Price
-
€15.67
Show Details
The Rainbow
by D H Lawrence
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- First printing
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Wellington, NZL
- Item Price
-
€1,029.93
Show Details
The Rainbow
by D H Lawrence
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- Thirteenth Printing.
- Published
- 1969
- Binding
- Soft cover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Burlington, Ontario, CAN
- Item Price
-
€6.16