Lawrence, T.E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom; a triumph. London; Jonathan Cape. 1935.

4to.; original tan buckram blocked and lettered in gilt, top edges olivine, others untrimmed; pp. [vi], 7-672; with portrait frontispiece and plates in monochrome, by Eric Kennington, William Nicholson, etc., together with a tri-fold map in red and black; a near fine and remarkably fresh copy, both externally and internally, with minor bruising to spine ends and minor uniform toning to endpapers, without ownership marks or inscriptions and without the letterpress dustwrapper, as usual.

First trade edition of this modern classic, being Lawrence’s autobiographical account of his involvement in the Arab Revolt during World War I.

Loosely laid in is an old portrait photograph of Laurence (circa 13 x 9cm), and several newspaper cuttings, namely “The girl who snubbed Lawrence” by Phillip Knightly (date unknown); “Anatomy of Sacrifice” by Anthony Storr (The Sunday Times May 16 1976); “Hedjaz Railway To Be Repaired” (Manchester Guardian, 1957) and “The Inner Conflict of T.E. Lawrence” by John E. Mac (The Times, February 8, 1969).  

The book has an enigmatic and complex publishing history to match its creator.  Lawrence himself claimed to have lost the first and only draft of the text at Reading railway station in 1919. Rewriting it in 1922 he privately published just 8 proof copies at the Oxford Times. These were for himself and not for sale. Only 6 copies from that printing are known to survive. They contain the fullest version of the text.

In 1926 the author was forced to make further edits and abridgements because of rising costs, but issued a Subscriber’s Edition at 30 guineas, which was a sumptuous book.  Only 211 copies came off the press, distributed to those who had signed up to receive them.

In 1927, to recover costs from this vanity publication Lawrence authorised a further abridged edition, titled “Revolt in the Desert” which went on public sale.

The 1935 version listed here, the Trade Edition, was published only weeks after Lawrence’s tragic death in a motorcycle accident. It the first unabridged text available to the general public, appearing in a limited edition of 750 numbered copies bound in quarter pigskin over publisher’s boards and also, as here, in an unlimited edition bound in cloth.