Beschreibung:

LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). Autograph letter signed ('T.E. Shaw') to an unidentified correspondent referred to Lawrence by Eric Kennington Clouds Hill, Dorset, 23 January 1924, 3 pages, 8vo (a few short tears, one causing small loss, marginal pinholes on second leaf). LAWRENCE, T.E. A broadsheet folio proof leaf from The Seven Pillars of Wisdom . [Oxford: privately printed by the Oxford Times for the author, 1922]. 2 columns, printed on the recto only. Extracted from one of 8 copies. (Margins creased, clean tears, skilfully reinforced with fine gauze.) O'Brien A034. With the accompanying statement to subscribers. [No place]: [for the author], 1 June 1925. Broadsheet 4° leaf. (Slightly creased.) Clements p.48; O'Brien A037. [LAWRENCE, T.E.] 'T.E. SHAW'. Some Notes on the Writing of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom . [No place: for the author, circa 1927]. 4° bifolium. (A few unobtrusive spots.) Clements p.48; O'Brien A039 ('about 200 copies'). The 4 items contained in a gilt red morocco-backed box (slight wear on joints). Provenance : H. Bradley Martin (bookplate on box interior); sale Sotheby's, New York, 30 April-1 May 1990, lot 3004. A REMARKABLE LETTER DESCRIBING LAWRENCE'S AMBIGUOUS FEELINGS ABOUT PUBLISHING THE SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM , WITH A PROOF PAGE FROM THE FIRST, UNISSUED EDITION OF 8 COPIES, and 2 other items, which trace the book's publishing history and textual evolution, from the library of H. Bradley Martin Lawrence's letter to a correspondent referred by Eric Kennington the principal illustrator of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom , opens by noting that 'the circumstances of [the book's] issue are peculiar', and drawing the distinction that 'It is a private issue, not a publication. The nature of the story explains my wish to keep the thing out of the book-shops'. He continues that, in order to raise the estimated £3,000 necessary to publish the work, he has 'suggested one hundred subscribers at thirty guineas each. If the bills come to more I'll try to get a few more subscribers (always at the same figure). If less I'll dock the list of its tail. There are to be no profits or commissions on this job...The complete book, as issued to subscribers, will not be reproduced again in my lifetime'. In addition to the subscribers' copies, there will be presentation copies: 'The fellows who fought with me will want copies, and are poor. I propose to give them, gratis, copies of the plain text, with perhaps just such pictures as directly concern any single one of them. None of these copies will be complete...There may be twenty or fifty of these spare pulls...depends how many of the fellows want them'. Lawrence then candidly addresses his doubts about the book's worth: 'I've said the value or rarity of the book: - but it seems to me that it is exceedingly dear at my price: and that it will be a bad bargain either as a thing to read, or as an investment for resale. No one should get it unless he is ready to throw away thirty guineas without a regret'. Stating that, 'No copies are being sent for review: and none will be put in public libraries, if I can help it', he describes his dilemma thus: 'I'm sorry to have to reprint the book at all, since the idea of many people reading it is hateful to me. Yet I want to see the pictures reproduced, & cannot afford to do them any other way. I cherish a vain hope that all of them [i.e. the subscribers] will be discreet men'. The letter ends with the financial details of the subscription - 'If after all this word-slinging you still feel inclined to subscribe'. The proof leaf of the 1922 first edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is from one of only 8 copies printed for circulation to Lawrence's friends to criticise - a circle which included E.M. Forster, Thomas Hardy and Siegfried Sassoon - and corresponds to all but the last 22 lines of chapter LXV, which describes 'our first try at electric mining [i.e. using remote-controlled bombs]', to ambush a train near Hallat Ammar