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The Manuscript "Nethermere II": General Features
Andrew Robertson states that "Nethermere II" is entirely written on Boot's exercise paper (see WP xxiv). The list of paper types in the Appendix shows that this is not the case. Robertson also says that the manuscript's pages were originally in 'gatherings of six pages folded once, but these have been cut at the fold; the resulting sections of twelve written pages (8 x 6.5 inches) are numbered consecutively by DHL in roman numerals' (WP xxiv n.19). This is true of the entirely rewritten Part III, but the earlier parts have quires of various sizes. The manuscript consists of long stretches of one particular paper type, interspersed with pages of different paper types which appear to have been written after the main body of the text. This suggests that Lawrence would tend to buy a batch of paper of a particular type, use it up, and then buy a new batch which was sometimes made by a different manufacturer.
One way of dating the pages would be to compare the paper with the types of paper used for Lawrence's letters between 1906 and 1910. Helen Baron's paper analysis of Sons and Lovers shows that during 1911-14 Lawrence often used the same paper for writing his novels and his letters. Comparatively few letters survive from 1906-10 but they show that Lawrence usually wrote his letters on special sheets of writing paper. He only occasionally used paper types similar to those used in "Nethermere II". These are recorded in the Appendix of this article, but in view of their scarcity there is insufficient evidence to establish that letters from a certain period were being written at the same time as certain pages of "Nethermere II".
There are five different types of handwriting in "Nethermere II". Lawrence's hand forms the bulk of the script. Twelve pages are in an unknown hand. The hands of Agnes Mason, Agnes Holt and Helen Corke appear on pages which they copied out neatly, and Corke also wrote revisions throughout the manuscript. All three women were Croydon school-teachers. Mason worked at the same school as Lawrence and remained his friend throughout his Croydon years; Holt, whom Lawrence briefly contemplated marrying in the autumn of 1909, met him at an unknown date and continued their relationship until she moved to the Isle of Man in mid-1910; Corke met Lawrence briefly through Mason in late 1908, but was intimate with him only from September 1909 until he left Croydon in March 1912.
It is unclear exactly when Mason and Holt did their copying. Andrew Robertson suggests that Holt copied her seventy-six pages during the revision period which he believes Lawrence undertook in between Hueffer's appraisal of the novel during November 1909 and the manuscript being sent to Heinemann in December (see WP xxvi-xxvii). He dates Mason's writing in the final revision period of February-April 1910. John Worthen suggests, however, that
Datings must remain tentative, owing to the lack of biographical evidence, but Worthen's judgment concerning the probabilities is persuasive. Agnes Mason's involvement appears to be more complicated than that of Holt's; her pages are not in a single block of text and may have been written at different times through the autumn of 1909 and spring of 1910.
Most of Helen Corke's accounts say that she became involved with the revision of the novel in 1910, when her relationship with Lawrence developed into a closer intimacy. Her diary of the period has an entry dated 25 March 1910 which refers to 'some folios of David's story which [she was] revising for him' (CY 6). She remembers that in February Lawrence asked her to 'read the manuscript and make suggestions, especially marking passages showing prolixity'.[9] They also worked together on the manuscript at her home, when she may have written corrections according to Lawrence's direct instructions, although she does not say who did the actual writing. Five pages of the final manuscript are in her hand, but there are also corrections and re-wordings
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