A T. E. Lawrence Limited Edition (125 Copies Only): Featuring A Previously Uncollected Letter

NOW SOLD OUT!

Three letters, all written on the same day...

A strictly limited edition, featuring a previously uncollected letter by Lawrence of Arabia

"I do not write... I sweat and sweat, and it's a botch"

— T.E. Lawrence, from the uncollected letter in this edition

30th OCTOBER, 1931

A DAY IN THE LIFE

THREE LETTERS

By T. E. Lawrence

Three letters by T.E. Lawrence, all written on the same day: 30th October, 1931. Including a letter published for the first time with the permission of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust.

With an original, hand-printed linocut frontispiece

A strictly limited, never-to-be-reprinted edition of 125 hand-numbered copies for sale

Our previous Lawrence-related limited edition, The Kaer of Ibu Wardani (see details here), was described by the T. E. Lawrence Society as "a very beautiful publication", and sold out quickly. The Society has also recently reviewed this publication in their Newsletter:

"I commend this finely produced little book to all our members, as a valuable piece of ephemera for your Lawrence collection." 

Nobody knows exactly how many letters T. E. Lawrence wrote in his lifetime. The total number, from childhood missives to his mother, right up to scribbled notes to friends in his final weeks, is undoubtedly comfortably into four figures.

We now know that he wrote three letters dated 30th October, 1931. Two of them, to his Mother and to the typographer Bruce Rogers, have been previously published (albeit in expensive, now hard-to-find books); the other, a fascinating and revealing letter to a fellow member of the RAF, has been uncollected until now. All three are presented here, giving a snapshot into one particular Friday in the 43-year-old Lawrence’s life, including — in the uncollected letter — a story involving Thomas Hardy and Siegfried Sassoon, and an unexpected connection to Spike Milligan and John Lennon...

Each copy of the edition features an original, individually hand-printed linocut by Sharon Newell, inspired by Lawrence's adventures in his beloved speedboat, the Biscuit.

A5 format, printed on uncoated 160gsm paper, 16pp plus a cover (in RAF blue) printed on heavy Rives Shetland paper.

The interior is set in Centaur, the font created by Bruce Rogers.

Featuring, as well as the full text of the three letters, a detailed Afterword by Adam Newell, giving the background to the letters and their recipients, with supporting illustrations.

More photos below:

The Fontispiece for each copy is individually hand-printed, so please note that ink coverage etc may vary!

The original linocut from which this edition's Frontispiece was printed.

Acknowledgements

Once again I have Sharon Newell and Martin Stiff to thank, for their hard work on making this limited edition a reality. Thanks also the The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, for their kind cooperation.

A T. E. Lawrence Limited Edition: The Kaer of Ibu Wardani (70 copies only!) NOW SOLD OUT!

THIS LIMITED EDITION HAS NOW SOLD OUT.

THE KAER OF IBU WARDANI

By T. E. Lawrence

A key early piece of writing by Lawrence of Arabia, which originally appeared in Jesus College Magazine in 1913, and is now published in its own edition for the first time

With an original, hand-printed linocut frontispiece

A strictly limited, never-to-be-reprinted edition of 70 hand-numbered copies for sale

NOW SOLD OUT. MANY THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE, FROM AROUND THE WORLD, WHO ORDERED A COPY.

A bit of background: 

As the summer of 1912 began, T. E. Lawrence was a 23 year-old off-duty archaeologist. With his dig at Carchemish closed for the season, Lawrence went travelling with Dahoum, the young Arab who had become his constant companion. The pair decided to take in a site of archaeological interest deep in the Syrian desert: the remains of a Byzantine palace known as the Qasr of Ibn Wardan.

The visit made enough of an impression on Lawrence that he was inspired to ‘formally’ write up the experience as an essay, which he sent back to England for inclusion in a new publication produced by his old Oxford college. Thanks to (presumably) a slight mangling of Lawrence’s title by the typesetter, the piece duly appeared as ‘The Kaer of Ibu Wardani’ in Jesus College Magazine Vol. 1, No. 2, dated January 1913.

This key early piece of descriptive writing by the future Lawrence of Arabia has been largely forgotten, and is not easy to track down. It is now presented in its own, limited edition for the first time.

The edition features an original, hand-printed linocut by Sharon Newell, inspired by the design of a wall carving at the Qasr, tipped in as a frontispiece.

A5 format, printed on uncoated 160gsm paper, 16pp plus a cover (designed to echo the 1935 Trade Edition of Seven Pillars) printed on heavy Rives Shetland paper.

The interior is set in Lawrence's preferred font Caslon, with a recreation of the striking decorated capitals designed by Edward Wadsworth for the 1926 Subscriber's Edition of Seven Pillars.

Featuring, as well as the full text of 'The Kaer of Ibu Wardani', an extract from Seven Pillars where Lawrence recalls his visit to the Qasr, plus a 'Note on Fonts' and annotations by Adam Newell, with supporting illustrations.

Acknowledgements

I'm extremely pleased with how this small edition has turned out. I have many people to thank, not least Dr. Robin Darwall-Smith, the Archivist at Jesus College Oxford, who helped me gain access to the original text. I should also thank Robert Athol, the Archivist at Jesus College *Cambridge*, whom (schoolboy error alert!) I mistakenly contacted in the first instance. He soon put me in touch with the *right* Jesus College.

Thanks are also due to Sharon Newell for labouring over 70 exquisite linocuts to act as the frontispieces, Paul Lloyd for creating a digital version of Wadsworth's bloomers, and Martin Stiff of the design agency Amazing 15 for his typically superb work.

Credits are also due to the Creative Commons photographers Fulvious, Heretiq, Jim Gordon, 'Upyernoz' and Reibai, whose work I have used for illustrations. 

Readers of the edition will see that several key biographies of Lawrence are referenced in my annotations, but in addition I would also like to mention Not a Suitable Hobby for an Airman: T. E. Lawrence as Publisher by V. M. Thompson as a useful source of information about Wadsworth's work.

Blowing Up Trains: A Lawrence of Arabia Relic

May 19th is the 80th anniversary of the death of T. E. Lawrence of Arabia. His fateful motorcycle crash was actually six days earlier, putting him in a coma from which he never recovered. (If he'd been wearing a crash helmet, he probably would have walked away from the accident, but that's another story.)

To mark the occasion, I thought I'd spotlight a little piece of history which has been sitting quietly in the Little Shop since it opened...

It doesn't look like much, but it's connected to this...

Blowing up a train on the Hejaz railway, David Lean style.

A recent photo of the remains of an actual train, blown up by the actual T. E. Lawrence.

The unassuming bookend features a piece of the railway track that was blown up by Lawrence and his Arab guerrillas.

The inscription reads:
'A sectios [sic] of railroad track destroyed by Lawrence of Arabia to prevent the Turkish forces from controlling the Arabian Peninsular, 1917. Recovered by Boy Scouts of America, Red Sea Troop 1, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1970.'

I bought it a few years ago, and while it didn't come with any solid provenance, I've no reason to doubt that it's the real McCoy. It's obviously got some age to it, and it would be a strange, not particularly obvious, and rather time-consuming thing to fake. There's also this learned article about the chemical composition of the Hejaz railway tracks of the time, which features a cross section photo which matches the piece on the bookend:

Boy Scouts or not, I imagine it would by frowned upon these days to go around nicking bits of the remaining track, not least because there is ongoing archaeological research into the period, headed by GARP (the Great Arab Revolt Project). You can find out more about them here.

As Lawrenciana goes, it's an interesting and presumably unique piece, but who knows what its value would be. Whatever the right collector is willing to pay for it I suppose.

I like it too much to sell it though.

2017 UPDATE: This link to the National Trust's collection of item's at Lawrence's cottage Cloud's Hill features a familiar-looking object... more proof that this piece is the real McCoy...