Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Special Edition

 The title page of the limited edition of 1935

If you owned a copy of the 1926 edition of T.E.Lawrence's 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' you would be sitting on, possibly, $US50 000 worth. Much as I'd love one I can't stump up that kind of cash.

The next edition was in 1935 and a first edition of that is reasonably valuable. Unlike the 1926 one, all of its illustrations are in black and white BUT a special limited edition was also brought out which contained four colour illustrations from the original; beautiful chromo-lithographs of portraits done by Eric Kennington.

 One of the four colour plates by Eric Kennington

This edition was limited to 750 numbered copies of which I have number 125.

It's in beautiful condition, its uncut pages quarter bound within brown buckram boards and its spine of gold-blocked pigskin. The front cover carries the gold-embossed crossed swords device with its cryptic message 'the sword also means clean-ness and death'

 

 My copy of the limited edition of 1935

The thing is: I have no idea what this book is worth. Because it is limited and because, since 1935, there are unlikely still to be 750 numbered copies, it rarely appears in sales catalogues.

I treasure it and, along with other treasured books in my library, I am comforted in the knowledge that e-books will never entirely supersede paper, ink and boards.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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A Day in the Death of T.E.Lawrence

It was all a bit breathless but I had to visit three T.E.Lawrence destinations before leaving Dorset and England for New Zealand. Lawrence has fascinated me since I was a small boy and read bits of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the reference library in Norbury. Latterly I amassed a large collection of Lawrenciana including some quite valuable Golden Cockerel editions and a copy of Seven Pillars with four of the 1925 subscriber’s edition colour plates in it. 

Over many years I developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with T.E. because although he was undoubtedly heroic, he was also a liar and a bit of a prat!

With time running out fast I wanted to see: 1. Cloud’s Hill, 2. T.E’s gravestone, 3. His effigy.

Cloud’s Hill, Lawrence’s cottage that he bought in 1925 having rented it from 1923 when he was grudgingly serving in the Tank Regiment at Bovington is delightful, peaceful, well preserved and redolent of the man and his solitary, simple milieu. We were the only visitors that day. I picked up a flint from the garden and some fresh oak leaves and brought them back to New Zealand as non-politically-correct keepsakes.

The grave in nearby Moreton churchyard is impressively ordinary and T.E. now finds himself in more company than he would have liked in life. Its headstone bears an inscription that he wouldn’t have cared for (dictated by his mother) and the motto of Oxford University which he would. There were floral tributes some fresh, some wilting.

A few miles east is Wareham where in St. Martin’s church is a reclining sandstone effigy of T.E.L as Lawrence of Arabia carved by Eric Kennington, the illustrator of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It’s very, very good. Apparently the vicar of Moreton church wouldn’t have the effigy because he didn’t want his church over-run by tourists but St. Martins needed funds for restoration so gladly allowed Lawrence’s effigy an alcove to itself. I had it to myself for a brief, silent moment.

Those three pilgrimages completed we departed with indecent haste but with actual been-there memories of Lawrence’s last days.

A strange man. An enigma. Born 1888 died 1935. Still alive in myth and mystery.


© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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