This is an autographed letter from T.E. Lawrence to Robin Buxton addressing issues related to the funding of the 1926 subscriber’s edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Buxton was Lawrence’s financial adviser and helped him through the process of publishing The Seven Pillars.
The book is Lawrence’s account of his role in the Arab guerrilla campaigns against the Ottoman Empire during World War I, ranging from Aqaba in southern Jordan to Damascus. Lawrence participated in many military actions, as well as acting as a liaison between the British Army and the Arab forces led by the future King Faisal I. After the war, he was a vocal participant in the ultimately unsuccessful Arab independence movement.
Lawrence first published The Seven Pillars privately in 1926, but producing the volume almost bankrupt him, as he charged less than the production costs. A shorter commercial edition was released in 1927 under the title Revolt in the Desert and was an instant success. Lawrence became a hero overnight—despite allegations that he exaggerated his role in the Arab campaign—and the film adaptation of the book, Lawrence of Arabia, made him a legend.
There are hundreds of items on Lawrence in our collections, including numerous digitized items from the Heritage Library.
The ebook Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson, provides a measured look at the roles of Lawrence and various European powers in shaping the Middle East during and after World War I. James Schneider ties Lawrence’s embrace of guerrilla tactics to ongoing insurgencies in the region in Guerrilla Leader: T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, also available as an ebook.
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