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Nancy Pearn, D.H. Lawrence’s “queen of the magazines and newspapers” in his Home Country

Jonathan Long

Résumé

In April 1921, Albert Curtis Brown, who was to develop a substantial international literary agency, took over as Lawrence’s literary agent in England. His best-known employee was Laurence Pollinger, who by April 1927 had taken over much of the “book side” of Lawrence’s work. However, although royalties from Lawrence’s novels were overall the greater part of his increasing income, particularly after Thomas Seltzer and his wife Adele expanded his sales in the USA, income from periodicals was also important for a writer such as Lawrence who wrote so much short fiction. The payments received were significant relative to the length of what was published, so income was easier to come by. With assistance from Curtis Brown’s Magazine Department manager, Nancy Pearn, who worked with Lawrence from 1924 on developing in his home country of England, his income from periodicals became substantial too.
This essay will examine the history of Lawrence’s developing income from periodicals in England (not just from the shorter fiction published in it, but also from his shorter non-fiction, in particular the results of his later interest in journalism, sometimes specifically tailored to readers in his homeland), the extent of Nancy Pearn’s role in that, and her relationship with Lawrence. Not infrequently, Lawrence had difficulties with his publishers and literary agents, but his relationship with her was an unusually good one, one of mutual respect, which as this first detailed study will show is reflected in their correspondence. For example, he recommended her to Catherine Carswell, describing her as a “quite golden” “magazine girl” (
5L 459). Almost uniquely for someone in her position, he also inscribed a copy of one of his books to her, the Secker first English edition of Sea and Sardinia (1921).

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  • 1 See Moore and Montague 1 for Frieda’s letter to Edward Titus of [5 February 1930] and her blisterin (...)

1For a few years from 1920, following Thomas Seltzer’s becoming Lawrence’s main publisher in the United States, Lawrence enjoyed much improved royalties from the sale of his books there. However, by 1924 Seltzer was in financial difficulties, eventually filing for bankruptcy, resulting in his owing Lawrence significant sums. Lawrence had a gap to fill in his income. His sales in the United Kingdom, mainly through the underwhelming Martin Secker, were insufficient to meet his needs (see Long passim). His sales in the United States became modest after Boni Brothers and Knopf took over publication of his titles there from Seltzer, and as Lawrence’s health declined in the ensuing years, so did his energy for writing the novels he was and is best known for. He needed to earn a living through some form of new work (Worthen 134). Writing on 7 July 1926 to Dorothy Brett from the Villa Mirenda near Florence, where he could live cheaply, he reckoned he would be happy to earn about £300 a year (5L 492) with his rent only £25 a year (5L 453). That income would be net of the 10% commission his literary agent would take (6L 169), and the 20% Income Tax levied on his United Kingdom income, which included royalties paid through a UK literary agent wherever the work had been written (6L 143, 7L 26). The way to avoid both those deductions proved to be by privately publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Florence in 1928. At the time of his financial difficulties with Seltzer, Lawrence began to concentrate on what in a letter to Nancy Pearn of 2 November 1925 he called “short things” (5L 331) or in another to her, of 25 February 1926, “little things” that kept him “going best” (6L 647), meaning shorter fiction and non-fiction pieces. Fortunately, his literary agent in the United Kingdom from 1921, Albert Curtis Brown (see illustrations between 3L 322 and 3L 323), had an excellent manager in his periodicals department in London, Nancy Pearn, to place those “little things.’’ As he wrote to Curtis Brown, with some irony, on 18 November 1927, “You know the magnificent sums Secker makes for me – and Knopf. Not their fault, no doubt – nor mine. But without Miss Pearn I might be whistling, simply though we live” (6L 222).1 This essay will examine the success of Lawrence’s relationship with her and, notwithstanding the fact that he was rarely in England from this time until his death in 1930, how much the focus of this type of work was on England.

2Before going into the detail of what Pearn achieved in the years subsequent to her first published exchange of correspondence with Lawrence in 1924, it is worth briefly examining the history of Lawrence’s varied relationships with literary agents. Following the initial informal support he received from Ford Madox Hueffer and Edward Garnett, Lawrence began to realise that he needed a more formal arrangement to keep his increasingly complicated affairs in order and to boost his income. In July 1914 he appointed well-known literary agent J.B. Pinker to represent his interests in the United Kingdom and the United States, an arrangement that lasted until December 1919. He did not like him though (Worthen 35 and 87), for example, saying to S.S. Koteliansky, in a letter of 3 July 1917, that “[m]y relations with that little parvenu snob of a procureur of books were always strained, best have them broken” (3L 136). Thereafter Lawrence initially looked after his own affairs, but by February 1920 he had written to his American friend from Cornwall days, journalist Robert Mountsier, asking if he would act for him as his agent in New York (3L 476). Except for some assistance latterly obtained from his friend Barbara Low (Worthen 102-103), he delayed appointing an agent in London until on 4 April 1921 he selected the Curtis Brown, Limited literary agency, following the recommendation of Douglas Goldring (3L 699-701, Nehls ii 256). Lawrence may have found some attraction to the fact that Curtis Brown’s offices were at 6 Henrietta Street Covent Garden, the location of several significant publishing businesses – Duckworth and Co., publishers of most of Lawrence’s books up until 1916 and for whom Edward Garnett worked as a reader, being at number 3. After he took over from Mountsier in the United States in 1923, Curtis Brown represented all Lawrence’s literary interests for the rest of his life. Lawrence fell out with Mountsier, not least because he did not like Seltzer, to whom at this time Lawrence remained loyal (Worthen 119-120).

3The relatively long relationship with Curtis Brown was only challenged by Lawrence’s correspondent Maria Chambers trying to become his agent in New York (8L 108). As he described the arrangement with Curtis Brown in his letter to her of 23 August 1929:

You see the head office is in London, and there, I really think they do their best for me. The Magazine department manager, a woman, believes in my work, and works for it accordingly: the same with Pollinger, who looks after my books. They have all my affairs in their hands, and do a great deal for me that I could not possibly do for myself. – I have a contract with them, that all my work shall pass through their hands. Of course they were scared stiff of Lady C., and didn’t handle that at all – yet they did help me even there, that is, Pollinger did in London, and without being paid. So of course I can’t grumble about the English side. Unfortunately, the American side is really unsatisfactory – and yet it is the same firm. Rich has been manager for only about a year – and I know they don’t think much of him (7L 439).

  • 2 There appear to be at least two hiatuses in the correspondence with Pearn though – see 5L 242 n. 1 (...)
  • 3 Laurence Pollinger became a director of his own agency Laurence Pollinger Ltd. established in 1958, (...)

4Before the publication of the Cambridge Edition of the Letters relatively few letters from and to Albert Curtis Brown and his staff had been published. We now have available all the surviving ones Lawrence sent to them,2 and excerpts of some of the letters from them, typed manuscript copies of which are in the Curtis Brown archive at the University of Texas, where most but not all of the originals of the surviving letters from Lawrence are held. Most of the letters from Lawrence are to Curtis Brown himself, to Laurence Pollinger (see illustrations between 6L 286 and 6L 287), who as Pearn put it in her letter to Lawrence of 6 April 1927 – was ”one of our Book Managers [who] is taking over more and more of the detail of the book side of your work” (6L 29 n. 1), and to Pearn herself, who was corresponding with him from June 1924. We have roughly a hundred letters to each of them. The other surviving correspondence is limited. It does not reveal much about the workings of the London office and even less about the New York one – Lawrence’s letters to the New York staff do not survive. I will list the other Curtis Brown staff members included in the correspondence as several are mentioned in what I say later, when I make comparisons between what he said about them and about Pearn. There are letters to Olwen Bowen-Davies, a member of the office staff and Michael Joseph, director and later general manager (who subsequently had his own publishing house), both of whom corresponded with Lawrence when Pearn was on holiday in September 1926; to Rowena Killick, Pearn’s secretary who corresponded with Lawrence when she on holiday in August and September 1927, which included a stay at the Villa Mirenda; and to Sonya Chapter, an assistant manager to Pearn in the periodicals department, who corresponded with Lawrence when she was on holiday during September and October 1924. Sonya Chapter joined the foreign department in 1929, working with Jean Watson who managed it from 1928. In the same year Jean Watson married Curtis Brown’s son, Spencer, who also worked for him. The Lawrences were invited to the wedding (6L 257). Other correspondence involving the London office exists with a Miss Wells and a Donald Wells, together with another secretary, Maud Drummond, about whom little is known. There is also some correspondence with David Higham, who in 1935 left with Laurence Pollinger, followed by Pearn, when Albert Curtis Brown wanted to put his son Spencer in charge of the business. They formed Pearn, Pollinger, and Higham Limited.3 The London team generally seems to have dealt with Lawrence’s work very much to his satisfaction, attentively and with absences well covered, different departments dealing with different types of work. Unfortunately, as the correspondence shows, following a happy relationship with Arthur Barmby in the New York office until 1927, his replacement Edwin G. Rich did not find favour with Lawrence. Barmby and Rich were assisted by a Mrs Lina McCord until she left in June 1928 (6L 432). I will now say more about Pearn, her background and what she helped Lawrence to achieve.

  • 4 She continued: “Since then I have been connected with this work in almost every capacity – with the (...)

5Pearn was born Annie Ross Pearn in 1892, making her a near contemporary of Lawrence. Not much about her is known, and not surprisingly there is little mention of her in the Lawrence biographies before the third volume of the Cambridge biography, Dying Game. There appears to be only one image of her that survives (see illustrations between 5L 252 and 5L 253). Her archives at the University of Delaware comprise only 45 letters and postcards from some of the other authors she dealt with, the best information about her being in the Curtis Brown archive and in particular the two-way correspondence with Lawrence now published. However, she did contribute a chapter on literary agency in a collection of essays entitled The Road to Success: Twenty Essays on the Choice of Career for Women, published in 1936 (figure 1). We learn from that that having trained as a secretary (xii) after World War I she worked for an unnamed “dramatic author” who “proved to be actually part of another well-known literary agency’’ (Pearn 91), which evidently gave her some advantage when she started to work for Albert Curtis Brown in 1922.4 Literary agency was a relatively new type of business then, his company Curtis Brown Limited, describing itself grandly in its letterhead as an ”International Publishing Bureau,” was one of the oldest literary agencies in Europe, founded as recently as 1905. We don’t know from the published correspondence whether or not the role of manager of the periodicals department was created for her but Pearn excelled in it. Her skills must have been learned very quickly as her first published letter to Lawrence is dated 9 May 1924, and relates to the placing of Lawrence’s short story ‘’The Last Laugh’’ in The New Decameron IV anthology (figure 2) (5L 50) – it is clear that she was given quite a lot of responsibility at an early stage.

  • 5 The case was Curtis Brown, Ltd. (As Agents for Stella Benson, D.H. Lawrence and Peter B. Kyne) and (...)

6To keep the amount of material within reasonable bounds, for the purposes of this essay, I have kept the information provided to that from three Cambridge Edition volumes, namely Introductions and Reviews, Late Essays and Articles, and The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories. Pearn was involved in the placing in periodicals of work appearing in other Cambridge Edition volumes, such as the travel essays in Sketches of Etruscan Paces and Other Italian Essays and Mornings in Mexico and Other Essays (5L 110) and poetry (7L 51). However, the vast majority of the items placed were in the former, not the latter volumes, and it is to the former that tables provided relate (tables 1-3). These show at a glance in the numbers of references to the Cambridge Edition Letters the extent of Pearn’s involvement, as there is correspondence with Lawrence for each reference. I will not repeat all the information on publication of the “short things” appearing in the introductions to the Cambridge Edition volumes but I will give detailed examples of Pearn’s interventions below. Other than during her absence on holiday there is little correspondence with other Curtis Brown staff about these publications. The payment column in the tables shows the extent of how profitable this work was, it being reasonable to assume where the payment is unknown that it would be of similar quantum to the others. In this period the exchange rate approached $5 to £1. The number of articles, essays and short stories first published in England reflects how much England still was the base for Lawrence to promote his work, even though he was hardly there at this time. It also demonstrates the extent that Pearn placed his work, the relatively few sections where there are no Letters references suggesting occasions when she was not involved in finding a publisher and/or getting the best payment for Lawrence. A report of a 1929 High Court tax case in London brought against Curtis Brown records the fact that Lawrence’s UK royalties paid through Curtis Brown for the 1925/1926 tax year exceeded £600.5 Furthermore, as there was a separate Curtis Brown office in New York, the American and English data should be compared for each type of work in the three tables to see how little the New York office was primarily involved. The significance of the tables is that firstly they demonstrate the increasing exposure Lawrence had to the literary marketplace, much more through periodicals than the readership of his own books and short stories subsequently collected into books and of introductions to those of other writers. Secondly, the increasing sums received were important as he could no longer be reliant on his novels. This was achieved in part through his flexibility (generally) in style/content for his perceived readership/target audience and his relaxed attitude towards periodical editors cutting/revising/editing his work to suit. He was willing to compromise his literary values for his financial needs. As he said, he “could probably live by little things’’ (6L 29) but generally didn’t favour anthologies using extracts of his work as they got “everything for nothing” (6L 200).

  • 6 See Grice 47 ff for his earliest foray and Worthen 140 for how Lawrence started to get back into jo (...)
  • 7 The articles were often about themes explored in Lawrence’s fiction, in particular Lady Chatterley’ (...)
  • 8 Lawrence had expressed a similar sentiment in his letter to Pearn of 27 June 1926 when he said “But (...)
  • 9 From early on in this period Lawrence was increasingly flexible about what newspaper and magazine e (...)

7The extent of the English connection is most obvious in Lawrence’s last foray into journalism,6 a series of mainly London mass market7 newspaper articles written in 1928 and 1929, most of which were collected by Lawrence and published shortly after his death as Assorted Articles (Martin Secker and Alfred Knopf, 1930) (see figure 3 for the Secker edition), the basis for the Cambridge Edition Late Essays and Articles. The catalyst for the first of the series of about twenty articles was a letter sent to Lawrence via Pearn in April 1928 by Arthur Olley, literary editor of the Evening News, asking him to contribute an article. She said to Lawrence that if he could “bear to tackle just those sorts of subjects which the Press adores’’ this could have “immediate results in the way of increasing book sales.’’ The article, “The ‘Jeune Fille’ Wants to Know’’ was published on 8 May 1928, and Pearn immediately congratulated him on it, encouraging him to write more articles (6L 401). She wrote again on 17 May 1928 to the effect that the Daily Chronicle planned to publish some articles by men on the theme of ‘’What Women Have Taught Me.’’ She suggested that he submit some, saying “Would you do them about a thousand words – we could probably get Fifteen Guineas – remembering as you so cleverly did in the E[vening] N[ews] article, that you were writing for the G[reat] B[ritish] P[ublic] on this occasion.’’ In the same letter, she passed on Olley’s pleasure with the article, sufficient for him to suggest that he might write four more. Lawrence wrote to her on 21 May 1928 that ‘’I find it really rather amusing to write these little articles. If Mr Olley will tell me what he’d like, I’ll try more or less to oblige” (6L 403). By 13 October 1928 the Evening News had published seven of his articles and Pearn managed to increase the fee to 12 guineas each. That figure was to increase further. As he wrote to Dorothy Brett on 24 November 1928 “the Sunday Despatch gives me £25 for a 2000 word article, written in an hour and a half” (7L 26) – a much quicker and more profitable return than a short story, let alone a novel. As he put it, it was ”far the best way of making money” (7L 41).8 During Lawrence’s lifetime approximately one half of these articles were also published in America, principally in Vanity Fair, (copies of which can be viewed online), with some shortly thereafter in Scribner’s Magazine (e.g. figure 4), but it will be apparent from the titles that those with a particularly English theme were not included. Through his “willing cooperation with newspaper editors’’9 he could “participate in diverse literary circles, to reach different audiences, to fashion and reshape his public identity, and sustain a professional career” (Grice 48). He could remain “the self-styled champion of outspoken expression, but through newspaper journalism he was able to voice his concerns about modern society and enter into topical debates while reaching a wide public” (ibid.). The “public” being of course the British public. As he put it, “Perhaps after all the public is not such a dull animal, and would prefer an occasional subtle suave stone to polish its wits against” (6L 403).

  • 10 The address book is held in the collection of the University of California at Berkeley.
  • 11 For further references to this incident see BB 374.2 and 379.2 (and note) and Nehls ii 273. It appe (...)
  • 12 Pearn also collected the stories that were to be published in book form as The Woman Who Rode Away (...)
  • 13 As Pearn wrote, ”[t]he agent’s business is to sell what her authors write; her job being the taking (...)
  • 14 In addition, Frieda wanted her to meet Martin Secker’s wife Rina when Lawrence was in Scotland, and (...)

8Finally, I will examine Lawrence’s relationship with Pearn and what made it so enduring and successful. It did not start off well, from his first letter on 18 June 1924 (5L 57) to one of 12 September 1924 (5L 118), he referred to her as “Miss Pearse,” as written in his address book.10 Even though their good relationship lasted until his death, he never addressed her as “Nancy.” His only known possible admonishment was in August 1924, in relation to Mollie Skinner’s visit to the Curtis Brown office. Lawrence suggested that if Pearn had seen her ”I’m so afraid you weren’t very nice to her” (5L 110).11 Throughout, Lawrence’s attitude towards Pearn was polite and respectful, without high expectations of a successful outcome for the work he had sent her. He wrote much longer, chatty, letters than was necessary for business matters, for example telling her about the weather wherever he happened to be (e.g5L 317, 571, 6L 270-271, 619) or what he thought about the ”atmosphere of the place” (5L 58) but asking her to keep him in touch with England by sending him “all the news” (6L 594). He was prepared to be frank though. Sending her his ”John Galsworthy” essay in February 1927, he wrote “reading one novel after another just nauseated me up the nose. Probably you like him, though” (5L 649). Unless Lawrence or one of his typists, such as Dorothy Brett, had done the work, he routinely sent his work to Pearn for typing, not unusually with the comment that it would be difficult to place, using phrases or words such as “very difficult” (5L 58), “tribulation” (5L 451), “tough” (6L 51), and “trouble” (6L 84).12 For a man who could be so difficult, from early on he was appreciative of her skills, and undemanding. On 17 April 1925, he said to her that she had “done awfully well with those difficult stories” (5L 242) and on 27 June 1928 that he was “more likely to make my living by your ‘periodical’ efforts” (6L 438) than through his books. He told Curtis Brown that “without Miss Pearn I might be whistling, simply though we live” (6L 222). Lawrence let her get on with things without interference, referring to her making arrangements with his friend Cynthia Asquith as her ”province” (5L 360),13 regularly using phrases such as ”you decide” (5L 498) and “do you think” (5L 551), even saying “do make the decision about price in future without bothering to refer to me, when you sell stories or things, – unless it’s something very special” (5L 613–614), only rejecting her suggestion that he broadcast on the BBC as it would make his “blood run cold” (6L 552), or that he write ”an article on the sort of film he would write or produce if there was no censor” (6L 601). He often asked for her “advice” (5L 385). He gave her discretion as to what to do with the poems in his Pensées manuscript (7L 51, 65) and described her as a “clever girl” (7L 123). Referring to the difficulties he had with John Middleton Murry, Lawrence asked her to “settle the matter just as you think well” (5L 452), and had previously asked her to use her “own judgement” (5L 242) with him. She replied that Murry had to turn “into a good boy” (ibid. note 2). He was happy to rely on her completely to organise his business affairs, for example saying to her “[i]f you want me to see anybody, fix it up, will you” (5L 320) and acknowledging the fact that that “she keeps most of my reference stuff” (6L 465). He was throughout concerned for her wellbeing, and showing affection for her, typically signing off a letter with phrases such as “Hope all goes jauntily” (5L 477) or “I hope you’ll have a nice time” (6L 238). When he was in London in 1925 and 1926, he expressed disappointment at missing her on couple of occasions (5L 310 and 545) and wrote of his hope of seeing her during his August 1926 visit – “hope we shall see you” (5L 477) and “we must have a meal somewhere together” (5L 482). He did send her an invitation, complete with his usual detailed directions, to come to “tea” (5L 505) on 5 August 1926 at the flat in Chelsea he had rented, and they duly met.14 When he was back at the Villa Mirenda he was keen that she should visit – “When might you come here?” (5L 654), “you must go out to the Villa Mirenda” (6L 128), and following the disappointment of being away when she and her companion a Mrs Angell visited in September 1927, wrote “I hope you’ll have a real good holiday […] best wishes for the holiday” (6L 134-135), asking her secretary Rowena Killick “has Miss Pearn actually gone off?” (6L 140), reporting to her subsequently that “Miss Pearn […] seems to be having a good time” (6L 167), writing to Lilian Wilkinson their neighbour at the Villa Mirenda about possible arrangements and adding “I only hope Miss Pearn would be comfortable enough” (6L 139), finally writing to Pearn at length about the shortcomings of the Villa Mirenda but that he was “awfully pleased to hear […] you had two pleasant days here” (6L 199).

9Undoubtedly, the greatest challenge to the relationship between Lawrence and Pearn was his private publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. She was unlikely to have been concerned that by publication in Florence he was avoiding paying Curtis Brown’s commission, but was certainly anxious about the damage it might do to Lawrence’s finances. Again seeking her advice, he wrote to her on 12 April 1927 that “I’m in a quandary about my novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. It’s what the world would call very improper. But you know it’s not really improper,” to which she replied that he should be guided by his “instinctive judgement” not to publish Lady Chatterley’s Lover, as it could be “even dangerous financially speaking” to the magazine market (6L 29). A few weeks earlier, he had even suggested that he would send it to her to have it typed (6L 21). As time went by, he became less anxious, and more defiant, finally writing to her on the subject on 1 April 1928 “You hear I am burning my boats by publishing my ‘shocking’ novel here all by myself. I expect everybody will disapprove – you certainly will. So I shan’t ask you to buy a copy” (6L 347), and on 30 October 1928 disingenuously saying that the hostile reviews of the book “could not hurt me, as I’ve sold the edition” (6L 602). The relationship continued with good humour though. Pearn sent Lawrence a “priceless cartoon” from the Evening Standard for 26 February 1929, featuring a line of well-known writers, “each […] accompanied by his literary inspiration.” Lawrence signed it for her, adding “except me, so I suppose I’ve got none!” (7L 206; see the illustrations between 7L 290 and 7L 291).

  • 15 See Long for details of the presentation copies of the books Lawrence gave Curtis Brown and Polling (...)

10What particularly singles out Lawrence’s relationship with Pearn was his kindness and generosity to her. We have already seen his offers of hospitality to her. These were only to a certain extent matched by his offers to Curtis Brown to accompany him on his proposed visit to Italy in January 1926 (5L 361) and to sort out accommodation for Laurence Pollinger when he visited Lawrence at Bandol in January 1930 (7L 620, 622). In addition, he and Frieda evidently made regular gifts to Pearn, which she reciprocated, more than just providing presentation copies of some of his books as he did for Curtis Brown and Pollinger,15 reflecting the close relationship he had with her. The correspondence refers to his giving her his copy of the special Lawrence edition of the Laughing Horse magazine (figure 5) (5L 477, 487), an “African table mat […] a big one  (7L 94), a signed photograph of him (7L 404), and various books, specifically, the Collected Poems volumes (7L 23, 30) and a copy of the limited edition Glad Ghosts  “for a Christmas card” (figure 6) (5L 607). There survives a copy of Sea and Sardinia inscribed to her (figure 7), possibly referred to in his letter to her of 5 October 1925 – “I’ll gladly write in the book” (5L 310) he said. In addition, he happily agreed to her request to include extracts from “Flowery Tuscany”, “for your Rotary magazine” (7L 185). Whilst his relationship with Curtis Brown and with Pollinger was generally cordial, and he expressed his disappointment about Arthur Barmby leaving the New York office (6L 222), calling him “very decent and reliable: a north of England man” (5L 16), he did not mince his words about some other Curtis Brown staff. For example, he described Jean Watson as ”tiresome“ (6L 262), and a “difficult person” (7L 572). Edwin Rich, Barmby’s replacement, Lawrence referred to as “damn feeble at making a contract” (7L 312), “useless, if not worse“ (7L 440) and “a sort of kitten who only wants to be loved: a real dud’’ (7L 522).

  • 16 Either instinctively or through learning from her colleagues, Pearn knew exactly how to maximise re (...)
  • 17 Pearn’s chapter on literary agency includes a list of desirable qualities for an agent’s success, w (...)

11Turning to what we learn of the relationship from Pearn’s letters to Lawrence, the first letter that has been published, written on 9 May 1924, is entirely business-related (5L 50). However, the next, dated 10 July 1924, was from the beginning upbeat: “It was jolly to have your letter of June 18th, with the heading ‘Questa,’ which brought to mind my happy trip through that country two years ago” (5L 58). For most of their relationship she appeared to be very confident about dealing with Lawrence; the letter continued “I am now looking forward to receiving some more stories, in spite of your warning that they will be very difficult to place” (ibid.). Although she was “a little scared” (5L 109) about periodical publication of a story as long as “The Woman Who Rode Away,” she was a fearless proponent of his work, putting him first. An example of this was when Cynthia Asquith was collecting a book of ghost stories, potentially at rates very favourable to herself. Pearn wrote “frankly we don’t see why a publisher should benefit by getting material by big names in this indirect way, and paying much less than his competitors would be obliged to pay” (5L 341 n.2; see also 5L 360 n.4), this even though Cynthia Asquith was a client of hers as well. As we have seen in the tables, Pearn was very successful in getting a good return for Lawrence: she described one publisher’s offer as “absurd” (5L 482 n. 1).16 In another example of her not mincing her words when she thought it appropriate, on receipt of a story written by a “friend” of Lawrence she told him “I think it would be kind to her to suggest other activities than literature” (5L 551 n. 1). He didn’t let on the fact that the friend was Mabel Dodge Luhan. Equally, Pearn could be mischievous, suggesting to Lawrence that if he had destroyed the manuscript of “Sun,” which Harry Crosby wanted to buy from him, “would it be cheating to write out the story again in your own fair handwriting to sell to the eager Yank?” (6L 347 n. 3). Although Pearn did not always succeed in placing Lawrence’s work with newspapers and magazines, for example “None of That” and his translations of some Verga stories (6L 70 n. 3 and 110 n. 3), it would not be for want of trying. She was particularly keen on his work and getting it placed. For example, she wrote of how “treasured” his “Flowery Tuscany” sketches were (6L 52 n. 1), how “cleverly” he did with his first Evening News article (6L 403 n. 3), of “those loves of mine in some of the early collections” of his short stories (7L 402 n. 1), how keen she was to see his play David (7L 296 n. 2; see also 6L 70 n. 1). Finally, on the same day as Lawrence’s first Evening News article was published, 8 May 1928, she wrote to him “You’ve gone and been and hit it – meaning the journalistic market” (LEA 86). Wanting to encourage him but conscious of Lawrence’s illness, doing so gently, she wrote to him on 6 June 1929 “Are you planning any more travel articles of one kind or another?” (7L 329 n. 1) and on 22 July 1929 “There are rumours I hear of a new story?“ (7L 402 n. 1). This reflected the affection that she had for him. When once he showed irritation in one of his letters, she tactfully replied “Dear darling Mr Lawrence“ (6L 464 n. 2),17 and when asking him to sign the Evening Standard cartoon, she wrote “Do be a dear” (7L 206 n. 4). From early on in the relationship, Pearn was aware of the challenges Lawrence had to his health. She wrote to him on 1 April 1925 “I am so very sorry to hear the reason of your non-arrival in England. We had so looked forward to seeing you again” (5L 242 n. 1). On 17 May 1929 she wrote “What a fright we got over that rumour that you were ill, but it seems from all accounts that you were never better” (7L 295 n. 2). Finally, she wrote on his letter to Pollinger of 30 January 1930 “I’m very depressed about him” (7L 634 n. 2).

  • 18 See 7L 15 for more of the text of this letter. The fact that Frieda wrote in such a personal way to (...)

12To conclude, although circumstances brought Lawrence and Pearn together, she made the most of the opportunities that were presented, guiding him with a combination of skill and charm, quickly coupled with affection, which he shared. Arguably her position was strong enough to influence what he wrote for his home country of England. She certainly encouraged him as to whom he should write it for. Writing to Pearn on receipt of a letter of condolence from her, Frieda told her that “Lawrence always appreciated you so much for what you were” (Talbot 131).18 Although some of what Lawrence wrote in this period was particularly suitable for the British market, her performance was clearly much better than that of the Curtis Brown New York office. She was a highly successful woman professional in a business still very much dominated by men.

Annexes

Figure 1. The Road to Success: Twenty Essays on the Choice of Career for Women (Photograph supplied by Jonathan Long).

Figure 1. The Road to Success: Twenty Essays on the Choice of Career for Women (Photograph supplied by Jonathan Long).

Figure 2. The New Decameron IV (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 2. The New Decameron IV (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 3. Assorted Articles Martin Secker first edition (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 3. Assorted Articles Martin Secker first edition (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 4. Scribner’s Magazine May 1930 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 4. Scribner’s Magazine May 1930 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 5. Laughing Horse April 1926 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 5. Laughing Horse April 1926 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 6. Glad Ghosts (1926) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 6. Glad Ghosts (1926) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 7. Lawrence’s inscription in Nancy Pearn’s copy of Sea and Sardinia (Martin Secker first English edition, 1923) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Figure 7. Lawrence’s inscription in Nancy Pearn’s copy of Sea and Sardinia (Martin Secker first English edition, 1923) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).

Table 1. D.H. Lawrence Introductions and Reviews: the Nancy Pearn Years, 1924-1930.

Table 1. D.H. Lawrence Introductions and Reviews: the Nancy Pearn Years, 1924-1930.

Table 2. D.H. Lawrence Late Essays and Articles: the Nancy Pearn Years, 1924-1930.

Table 3. D.H. Lawrence Shorter Fiction Publication: the Nancy Pearn Years, 1924-1930.

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Bibliographie

Broadbent, Lizzie. Women Who Meant Business: Nancy Pearn (1892-1950) https://womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2020/12/15/nancy-pearn-1892-1950/

Ellis, David. D.H. Lawrence: Dying Game 1922-1930. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Grice, Annalise. “Journals, Magazines, Newspapers,” in D.H. Lawrence in Context. Ed. Andrew Harrison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Lawrence, D.H. and Skinner M.L. The Boy in the Bush. Ed. Paul Eggert. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Lawrence, D.H. Introductions and Reviews. Ed. N.H. Reeve and John Worthen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Lawrence, D.H. Late Essays and Articles. Ed. James T. Boulton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Lawrence, D.H. The Letters of D.H. Lawrence Volume Five: March 1924-March 1927. Ed. James T. Boulton and Lindeth Vasey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Lawrence, D.H. The Letters of D.H. Lawrence Volume Six: March 1927-November 1928. Ed. James T. Boulton and Margaret Boulton with Gerald M. Lacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Lawrence, D.H. The Letters of D.H. Lawrence Volume Seven: November 1928-February 1930. Ed. Keith Sagar and James T. Boulton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Lawrence, D.H. The Letters of D.H. Lawrence Volume Eight: Previously Uncollected Letters. Ed. James T. Boulton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Lawrence, D.H. St Mawr and Other Stories. Ed. Brian Finney. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Lawrence, D.H. The Virgin and the Gipsy and Other Stories. Ed. Michael Herbert, Bethan Jones and Lindeth Vasey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Lawrence, D.H. The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories. Ed. Dieter Mehl and Christa Jansohn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Long, Jonathan. “The Recipients of Complimentary Copies Could Drive Him Mad,” in Études Lawrenciennes, vol. 50, 2019
https://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/1101.

Moore, Harry T. and Montague, Dale B. Ed. Frieda Lawrence and her Circle. Letters from, to and about Frieda Lawrence. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1981.

Nehls, Edward. D.H. Lawrence: A Composite Biography. Volume Two, 1919-1925. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958.

Nehls, Edward. D.H. Lawrence: A Composite Biography. Volume Three, 1925-1930. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1959.

Pearn, Nancy. “Literary Agency,” in The Road to Success: Twenty Essays on the Choice of a Career for Women. Ed. Margaret I. Cole. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1936.

Poplawski, Paul. “A Bibliography of D.H. Lawrence, Third Edition (2001), By Warren Roberts and Paul Poplawski: Corrections, Additions and Updates to Section B, C, D and E,” in Journal of D.H. Lawrence Studies, 2.3 (2011): pp. 11-108.

Roberts, Warren and Poplawski, Paul. A Bibliography of D.H. Lawrence. Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Talbot, Lynn K. “From Old Germany to New Mexico: An Overview of Frieda Lawrence’s Letters,” in D.H. Lawrence Review, 37 no. 2 (Fall 2012): pp. 72-249.

Worthen, John. D.H. Lawrence A Literary Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

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Notes

1 See Moore and Montague 1 for Frieda’s letter to Edward Titus of [5 February 1930] and her blistering attack on Lawrence’s publishers in the United States and his poor returns there.

2 There appear to be at least two hiatuses in the correspondence with Pearn though – see 5L 242 n. 1 and 5L 180 n. 1.

3 Laurence Pollinger became a director of his own agency Laurence Pollinger Ltd. established in 1958, also representing the Lawrence Estate. His son Gerald became a director of the company and in turn his granddaughter Lesley, until she established Paper Lion Ltd. It now represents the Lawrence Estate.

4 She continued: “Since then I have been connected with this work in almost every capacity – with the notable exception of the Accounting department, which has always preferred to have me on the money-making side rather than the one responsible for the actual processes of book-keeping’’ (91).

5 The case was Curtis Brown, Ltd. (As Agents for Stella Benson, D.H. Lawrence and Peter B. Kyne) and Jarvis (H.M. Inspector of Taxes):
CURTIS BROWN, Ltd (as AGENTS for STELLA BENSON, D. H. LAWRENCE and PETER B. KYNE) v JARVIS (HM INSPECTOR of TAXES) - Case Law - VLEX 805903293

6 See Grice 47 ff for his earliest foray and Worthen 140 for how Lawrence started to get back into journalism in 1926.

7 The articles were often about themes explored in Lawrence’s fiction, in particular Lady Chatterley’s Lover (see Grice 47-48, 53-55). The publication of that book in July 1928 was to make Lawrence notorious, virulent attacks on the book first appearing in the London press from October 1928, when the last of the Evening News articles appeared, for example in the Sunday Chronicle and John Bull. These inevitably increased the interest in his newspaper articles and gave him wider appeal. As he wrote to Bernard Falk, the editor of the Sunday Dispatch, on 24 February 1929, “I sent Miss Pearn an article yesterday, to show you […] my position with regards to my naughty book etc […] I really don’t know much about the Sunday morning public: or any other. But I’d rather write for the Sunday Dispatch than for the high-brow papers and magazines. Though the thought of the godless, Sabbath public makes me shiver a bit, I still believe it has more spunk than the ‘refined’ public’’ (7L 189).

8 Lawrence had expressed a similar sentiment in his letter to Pearn of 27 June 1926 when he said “But little articles, if people like ‘em, are much the easiest’’ (5L 482).

9 From early on in this period Lawrence was increasingly flexible about what newspaper and magazine editors wanted to cut from his work. His main concern was that the book versions of it be published in full. On 30 August 1924, he wrote to Pearn “But if you can guarantee the cut is small and not significant, I agree” (5L 109). On 8 October 1924 he added “If the things are coming out whole in book form soon, then the magazines can please themselves what they do: the devil take them: they can cut as they please” (5L 149). On 21 January 1926 he wrote to Secker “I never mind altering these stories a bit” (5L 382). On 23 November 1926 he wrote to her “I am rather sorry to have the ‘Nightingale’ clipped – but if it’s only for a periodical, a mere weekly […] I suppose we may as well let ‘em go ahead” (5L 583-584). On 5 December 1927 he wrote to Pearn “I don’t mind if the magazine people alter the end of the story a bit – as little as possible” (6L 232). This attitude even applied to his poetry, as he wrote to her on 9 December 1928 “If you like, you can leave out a verse or a line or anything of a poem, for periodical use. I don’t care what you do for the periodicals” (7L 51).

10 The address book is held in the collection of the University of California at Berkeley.

11 For further references to this incident see BB 374.2 and 379.2 (and note) and Nehls ii 273. It appears that the upset was caused not by Pearn but by Maud Drummond, a secretary in the Curtis Brown office.

12 Pearn also collected the stories that were to be published in book form as The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories before book publication via Laurence Pollinger (WWRA xliii). In addition, she was involved in publication of some of Lawrence’s work that had been solicited by third parties, such as “Glad Ghosts” which had been commissioned by Cynthia Asquith (it was turned down by her but Pearn was instrumental in its separate publication in 1926 by Ernest Benn – WWRA xxxiii-iv). Pearn sent Cynthia Asquith an alternative, “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” for inclusion in her 1926 Ghost-Book anthology, having had the manuscript typed (WWRA xxxi-v). She was also involved in Lawrence providing Cynthia Asquith with “The Lovely Lady” for her 1927 anthology of murder and mystery stories, The Black Cap (WWRA xli-ii).

13 As Pearn wrote, ”[t]he agent’s business is to sell what her authors write; her job being the taking over and organising of their literary work as a whole, the author being thus left free to concentrate on the writing itself” (Pearn 95).

14 In addition, Frieda wanted her to meet Martin Secker’s wife Rina when Lawrence was in Scotland, and Frieda duly introduced them to each another on 19 August 1926 – see 5L 513 n. 2.

15 See Long for details of the presentation copies of the books Lawrence gave Curtis Brown and Pollinger. Like others, Curtis Brown had to buy his own copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover (6L 345-346). In Talbot letter 426 refers to a much-appreciated Christmas gift from Pearn to Lawrence and Frieda and letter 445 to a “not very inspired” one from them to her.

16 Either instinctively or through learning from her colleagues, Pearn knew exactly how to maximise returns for Lawrence. As she put it: “it is not enough to be ‘fond of reading’ or just to be ‘interested in writers’ […] a business sense is as vital in this profession as in any which is dependent on a soundly organized office routine” (Pearn 92).

17 Pearn’s chapter on literary agency includes a list of desirable qualities for an agent’s success, which includes “a natural elasticity and adaptability to the varying personalities with whom she will eventually come into contact,” “a sense of balance,” “an aptitude for pattern-making […] [to secure] the best returns,” “the selective instinct” and “a considerable amount of patience” (Pearn 93-94), qualities that she evidently had in large measure for her relationship with Lawrence to last so long and to be so successful.

18 See 7L 15 for more of the text of this letter. The fact that Frieda wrote in such a personal way to Pearn underlines how close the relationship was.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1. The Road to Success: Twenty Essays on the Choice of Career for Women (Photograph supplied by Jonathan Long).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 2,3M
Titre Figure 2. The New Decameron IV (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,4M
Titre Figure 3. Assorted Articles Martin Secker first edition (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,8M
Titre Figure 4. Scribner’s Magazine May 1930 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 2,2M
Titre Figure 5. Laughing Horse April 1926 (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,7M
Titre Figure 6. Glad Ghosts (1926) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-6.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,0M
Titre Figure 7. Lawrence’s inscription in Nancy Pearn’s copy of Sea and Sardinia (Martin Secker first English edition, 1923) (Jonathan Long. Private collection).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-7.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,4M
Titre Table 1. D.H. Lawrence Introductions and Reviews: the Nancy Pearn Years, 1924-1930.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-8.png
Fichier image/png, 37k
URL http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/docannexe/image/3970/img-10.png
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Jonathan Long, « Nancy Pearn, D.H. Lawrence’s “queen of the magazines and newspapers” in his Home Country »Études Lawrenciennes [En ligne], 56 | 2024, mis en ligne le 30 octobre 2024, consulté le 12 février 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/3970 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/12om1

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Auteur

Jonathan Long

Jonathan Long is a solicitor practising in the East of England, specialising in agricultural law. He has been a Lawrence enthusiastic for somewhat more than 40 years. He regularly speaks at Lawrence conferences meetings, and has published articles in the Journal of the D.H. Lawrence Society, the Journal of D.H. Lawrence Studies, the Journal of the D.H. Lawrence Society of Australia and Études Lawrenciennes.

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