David Herbert Richards "D. H." Lawrence (11 September 1885 - 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. Some of the issues Lawrence explores are emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct.

Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile which he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as, "The greatest imaginative novelist of our generation."

Lawrence is perhaps best known for his novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. Within these Lawrence explores the possibilities for life within an industrial setting. In particular Lawrence is concerned with the nature of relationships that can be had within such a setting. Though often classed as a realist, Lawrence in fact uses his characters to give form to his personal philosophy. His depiction of sexual activity, though seen as shocking when he first published in the early 20th century, has its roots in this highly personal way of thinking and being. It is worth noting that Lawrence was very interested in the sense of touch and that his focus on physical intimacy has its roots in a desire to restore an emphasis on the body, and re-balance it with what he perceived to be Western civilisation's over-emphasis on the mind.

General editor's preface; Prefatory note; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Cue-titles; Introduction; Late essays and articles: Note on the texts; Mercury; [Return to Bestwood]; Getting on; Which class I belong to; Newthorpe in 2927; The 'Jeune Fille' wants to know; Laura Philippine; That women know best; All there; Thinking about oneself; Insouciance; Master in his own house; Matriarchy; Ownership; Autobiography; Women are so cocksure; Why I don't like living in London; Cocksure women and hen-sure men; Hymns in a man's life; Red trousers; Is England still a man's country?; Sex appeal; Do women change; Enslaved by civilisation; Give her a pattern; Introduction to pictures; Myself revealed; Introduction to these paintings; The state of funk; Making pictures; Pornography and obscenity; Pictures on the wall; The risen lord; Men must work and women as well; Nottingham and the mining countryside; We need one another; The real thing; Nobody loves me; Appendix 1. Early draft of 'The 'Jeune Fille' Wants to Know'; Appendix 2. Vanity Fair version of 'Do Women Change'; Appendix 3. 'Mushrooms': an autobiographical fragment; Explanatory notes; Textual apparatus; A note on pounds, shillings and pence.