The Final Manuscript: 'Thick' Revision to B and E Pages
and Agnes Holt's Copies
In the autumn of 1909 Lawrence tided up "Nethermere I" for
submission to Hueffer. The earliest level of corrections appears to be those
made with a thick-nibbed pen, in black ink, to the B and E pages. It is the
'thick' correction style which changed "Worthington" to "Saxton"; this
particular change must have been made before Mason and Holt began
copying, because they always used "Saxton" on their pages.[14] Lawrence continued to make
'thick'
revisions after Mason and Holt's copying, however; numerous 'thick'
corrections may be found on their pages. Further evidence that the 'thick'
revisions were the first to be made is offered later in the paper.
Lawrence also numbered pages individually during this revision for
Hueffer, and he took the opportunity to remove deleted pages from some
quires. The similarity between the ink colours of the page numbers and the
'thick' revisions can clearly be seen, especially on pages 417, 519 and
526.
Agnes Holt copied out pages 1 to 76 on a new paper, Type A,
probably between mid-September and the end of October 1909. She used
the name Saxton and numbered the pages as she wrote them (the numbers
are in the same ink as the main text). Lawrence numbered the quires
afterwards, and inserted chapter divisions in a black ink which may easily
be distinguished from Holt's ink. On page 44 Holt copied as far as the
word 'hesitated' (WP 17:5). Lawrence then wrote a few
sentences (WP 17:6-10) and Holt continued after leaving a
space of three lines. This suggests that she was copying from Lawrence's
revised (presumably in 'thick' style) B pages, which he then threw away;
on page 44 she broke off for some reason, and Lawrence set her on her
way again by writing a few lines. After she completed her pages Lawrence
revised them again in 'thick' style.
