Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover Other Versions and Legal Disputes

Lawrence wrote three versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The last one is considered the authoritative version of the text. Rather than editing his first two versions, Lawrence wrote the third version entirely from his memory. However, many versions currently in publication are not the final version that Lawrence wanted published. Because of obscenity law, Lawrence initially published Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1928 in Florence with a private publisher. An unexpurgated version was not published in the UK until 1960.

In 1960 the book was put on trial in Britain under a new obscenity law. Many prominent authors were called to testify with regards to the book's literary value. In the end, the book was found "not guilty." It was similarly banned in the United States until 1959, when its ban was overturned by a U.S. Court of Appeals.