Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Jonathan Cape, 1935.
First trade edition. 4to. Original brown buckram with gilt title and vignette, in the original printed dustwrapper. Top edge brown, others uncut. Fifty-four illustrations, a few are line drawings in the text, the majority are black and white plates. Four folding maps. A fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper, very clean, with a chip to the rear flap.
The author's magnum opus and famous account of his part in the Arab Revolt of 1916. Lawrence vowed that the text would not be made publicly available in his lifetime. However, of financial necessity he authorised Jonathan Cape to publish a heavily abridged and sanitised version under the title of Revolt in the Desert in 1927, which stirred public interest to such an extent that Cape was induced to publish most of the full text within two months of Lawrence's death in 1935. It became an immediate best seller with 100,000 copies sold in the remainder of that year alone, and has since gone on to be one of the most influential and highly regarded pieces of military and literary prose of the twentieth century. Churchill was of the opinion, "It ranks with the greatest books written in the English language."
Stock ID: 42388
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