Books

First edition, limited issue, number 208 of 315 copies. This limited issue was in quarto with colour plates, which were printed in monochrome in the standard octavo issue. This hugely successful abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) was vital in defraying the soaring production costs of Lawrence's masterpiece and in establishing the fortunes of the Cape publishing house. It was Bernard Shaw who suggested to Lawrence that he fundraise for the £13,000 debt incurred from producing the limited Cranwell edition of Seven Pillars by writing an abridged version for a wider readership. Intent on not making an "excessive" profit from the idea, Lawrence ordered that no more copies be printed once his costs had been cleared. As a result, the fifth impression was the last, by which time 90,000 copies were in circulation, with many more still in demand. The public next encountered Lawrence's narrative in 1935, with the release of the first trade edition of the complete Seven Pillars. "Lawrence felt that in Seven Pillars he had failed to create a work of the 'titanic' class: his aim in the abridgement was more modest and therefore more attainable. There was magnificent material in Seven Pillars for an uncomplicated adventure story, and Lawrence was determined to succeed" (Wilson, p. 768). Quarto. Original dark brown quarter pigskin, spine gilt-lettered direct, brown buckram covers with gilt vertical rule, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With dust jacket. Colour frontispiece, 18 plates (10 in colour), folding map in red and black; title page printed in red and black. Spine ends lightly rubbed, small stain to title page verso, plates bright; jacket unclipped, browned, panels scuffed and marked, traces of former tape repairs to top edge verso, one closed tear to spine foot neatly repaired: a very good copy in like jacket. O'Brien A101. Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence, 1989.