"...your free copy shall be distinguished somehow beyond the ordinary copies. We can write in it, or add or subtract something, to make it quite peculiar. I owe you the very greatest thanks for your help when I was low in the list." - A 7 September 1925 autograph letter signed by T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia" to John G. Wilson, "the most famous English bookseller of his time", a critical supporter of the legendary 1926 Subscriber's edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and one of the select few to receive a complimentary copy from Lawrence.
1925. Letter. This 7 September 1925 autograph letter from T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia" to John G. Wilson, "the most famous English bookseller of his time", a critical supporter of the legendary 1926 Subscriber's edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and one of the select few to receive a complimentary copy from Lawrence. The letter is noteworthy not only for the association, but for timing and content, as Lawrence was struggling to fill subscriptions for his magnum opus.
“…your free copy shall be distinguished somehow beyond the ordinary copies… I owe you the very greatest thanks for your help…”
The letter is addressed and dated at the top right of the first panel "338171 AC II Shaw | Hut 105 | R.A.F. Cadet College | Cranwell | Lincs. | 7. IX. 25". Following Lawrence's salutation "Dear Wilson" the letter reads: "My "sample" has only choked off one subscriber, to date. It can't be helped. I see you have put yourself down for a paying copy. But you must also lend me your bibliophilic experience so that your free copy shall be distinguished somehow beyond the ordinary copies. We can write in it, or add or subtract something, to make it quite peculiar. I owe you the very greatest thanks for your help when I was low in the list. One of your subscribers puzzles me. I have booked F. R. Richmond Esq. 8A Kensington Palace Gardens London W. 8. and also F. R. Richmond Esq. Holm Foundry Cathcart Glasgow. Are these two men, or one? There were two Richmonds, you told me: but surely not to F. R.'s. That seems almost incredible. Lord Bute didn't get a copy: because Lady Bute is giving him one:" Following his valediction "yours sincerely" and signature "T E Shaw." there is a postscript: "My move to the Air Force has broken the thread of my proof-correcting, & thrown me back."
Condition
The letter is written in black ink on a single sheet of laid, watermarked ("ORIGINAL BLACKFRIARS MILL") paper measuring 8.875 x 6.9375 inches, folded once to form four 4.375 x 6.9375 inches panels. Lawrence wrote on the first and third of these panels. Condition is very good. The paper is complete, with no loss, tears, or appreciable wear other than an additional horizontal fold from original posting. The paper shows light overall soiling to the first and fourth (outer) panels and perhaps a faint hint of spotting to the lower front panel. Lawrence's ink remains clear and unfaded. The letter is protected within a clear, removable, archival sleeve housed within a rigid crimson cloth folder.
“Lawrence of Arabia”
During the First World War, Thomas Edward “T. E.” Lawrence (1888-1935) experienced a transformative odyssey as instigator, organizer, hero, and tragic figure of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which he began as an eccentric junior intelligence officer and ended as "Lawrence of Arabia”. He spent the rest of his famously short life struggling to variously reconcile, reject, share, and repress this indelible experience, which was eventually recounted in his magnum opus, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Hiding and writing in the R.A.F.
As part of his effort to evade his celebrity, in August 1922 Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force first under the name “John Hume Ross” and, later, “Thomas Edward Shaw” – a name he used until his death. Hence, from that time forward, he seldom signed with his original surname. By December 1922, Lawrence had, with a close circle of friends, “decided to produce 100 copies of the Seven Pillars, at thirty guineas a copy, if so many subscribers can be found.” So September 1925 found Lawrence – officially Aircraftsman Shaw, residing in “Hut 105” of the R. A. F. Cadet College at Cranwell – trying to both duck and recount the events that had made him so uncomfortably famous. By the time Lawrence wrote this letter to Wilson in 9 September 1925, he was well into the elaborate preparation of, and corresponding expenses for, his famous Subscriber’s edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Subscribers were fewer than had been hoped and Wilson was to prove of material help.
John Gideon Wilson John Gideon Wilson (1876-1963), was manager of Bumpus bookshop, "the most famous English bookseller of his time", and a significant, even critical supporter of the famous 1926 Subscriber's edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. "Described as 'massively wise and unassumedly learned', this lovable man was endowed with a rare simplicity. In his shop Wilson might be found conversing with the poet laureate or wrapping up the purchase of a schoolboy. His assessment of authors and their books was quick and sure, and his advice, always valid, was freely given to authors, publishers, and his fellow booksellers." Given his literate and approachable character and his commercial stature, it seems no surprise that he and Lawrence found opportunity to collaborate.
More than just a friend and subscriber
Today, when Subscriber's editions of Lawrence's magnum opus routinely command $six-figure sums, it is almost prohibitively difficult to imagine any challenge in securing subscribers for the mere 202 copies eventually issued. But at the time, Lawrence's expenses in producing the edition to his exacting and lavish specifications were extravagant, and for much of 1925 he was genuinely concerned by a lack of anticipated subscriber commitments. It was to Wilson that Lawrence had turned, earlier in the year, when facing the prospect "that the plans for a thirty-guinea subscription edition had been over optimistic. By mid-March, three months after the start of the project, only twenty-six subscribers had been found," while estimated costs to produce the edition were proving higher than anticipated. Lawrence wrote to Wilson, who was both manager of Bumpus bookshop in London and bookseller to the King, asking if Wilson "would like to place twenty copies at the thirty guineas price." Six worrisome months later, prospects had improved - due in no small part to Wilson. "By the middle of September," a week after Lawrence wrote this letter to him, "Wilson had added a block of subscriptions and the total suddenly jumped to eighty."
Bookseller to the King
Indeed, when completed by the binders in November 1926, Lawrence sent "the very first of these" to the Royal Library at Windsor, which "had taken out a subscription," having placed the order through J. G. Wilson. For this copy, Lawrence returned the advance cheque, writing in advance explanation to Wilson "...it seems improper that Kings should buy and sell among their subjects."
Wilson was clearly a trusted figure; in 1928, when Lawrence was collaborating with Bruce Rogers on their famous rendering of Homer's Odyssey, Wilson was one of the few trusted early with the knowledge that Lawrence was to be the translator. Following Lawrence's death in 1935, Wilson had a hand in the disposal of Lawrence's personal library from his beloved Clouds Hill cottage.
A doubly privileged recipient
Ultimately, there were only 211 copies of the Subscriber's Edition, of which 170 were complete copies, 32 incomplete, and 9 spoils. No two copies are identical. In addition to various differences in inclusion and placement of the many illustrations, each copy was bound differently. Wilson would have a hand in selling an appreciable percentage of the 170 available for sale to subscribers. Speaking to his importance to the edition, and as substantiated by this letter, Wilson would personally receive not only one of the 32 incomplete copies that Lawrence gifted to friends and comrades from the Arab Revolt, but also one of the 170 complete copies.
References: Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia; ODNB; Richard Knowles, Rickaro Books. Item #008852
Price: $9,000.00