Seven Pillars of Wisdom: a triumph, the complete 1922 'Oxford' text, limited one-volume edition, hand-numbered copy #"98", one of 180 issued thus in quarter Nigerian goatskin
by T. E. Lawrence and Jeremy Wilson
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Diego, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Salisbury, England: Castle Hill Press, 2003. Quarter goatskin. This is the finely bound, first one-volume limited edition of the full 1922 'Oxford' text from Castle Hill Press, the premier editors and fine press publishers of material by and about T. E. Lawrence, founded by Lawrences official biographer, Jeremy Wilson (1944-2017). Of 1,225 total copies, the publisher issued just 180 thus, in quarter Nigerian goatskin, bound by The Fine Bindery and featuring raised spine bands, blind rule compartments and transitions, cloth sides, top edge gilt, ribbon place marker, brown endpapers with adjacent illustrated maps,, head and tail bands, and issued in a black, cardstock slipcase. This is copy "98" hand-numbered thus by the publisher on the title page verso limitation.
Condition of the volume is flawless, as-new, acquired by us from the original owner. The slipcase shows just mild scuffs and shelf wear to extremities. This beautiful first one-volume edition not only features text that was re-checked against copies of the two source documents leading to a number of small improvements but also a scholarly index by Hazel K. Bell (which won the Wheatley Medal, Britains major indexing award), as well as 16 pages of black-and-white photographs taken by Lawrence and others during the Arab Revolt.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the story of T. E. Lawrence's (1888-1935) remarkable odyssey as instigator, organizer, hero, and tragic figure of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which he began as an eccentric junior intelligence officer and ended as "Lawrence of Arabia." This time defined Lawrence with indelible experience and celebrity, which he would spend the rest of his famously short life struggling to reconcile and reject, to recount and repress. Lawrence famously resisted publication of his masterwork for the general public during his lifetime. The saga is remarkable.
He nearly completed a massive first draft in 1919, only to famously lose it when his briefcase was mislaid at a train station. This first draft was never recovered. At a fever pitch, Lawrence wrote a new 400,000 word draft in 1920. This punishing burst of writing was followed by an equally brutal process of editing by Lawrence. In 1922, a 335,000 word version was carefully circulated to select friends and literary critics - the famous "Oxford Text". George Bernard Shaw called it "a masterpiece". Nonetheless, Lawrence was unready to see it distributed to the public. Finally, in 1926, a further edited 250,000 word "Subscribers' Edition" was produced by Lawrence - but fewer than 200 copies were made, each lavishly and uniquely bound. The process cost Lawrence far more than he made in subscriptions. To recover the loss, Lawrence finally authorized an edition for the general public - but one even further abridged and entitled "Revolt in the Desert". It was only in the summer of 1935, in the weeks following Lawrence's death, that the text of the Subscribers' Edition was finally published for circulation to the general public.
However, the fuller "Oxford Text" - a third longer than the shortened text which became so famous - would not be republished until 1997. Castle Hill took this text from Lawrences original manuscript in the Bodleian Library and Lawrence's annotated proof copy of the 1922 Oxford Times printing. Castle Hill Press first published a three-volume limited edition of 752 sets of the Oxford Text, followed by this one-volume limited edition in 2003.
Reference: see O'Brien A034a.
Condition of the volume is flawless, as-new, acquired by us from the original owner. The slipcase shows just mild scuffs and shelf wear to extremities. This beautiful first one-volume edition not only features text that was re-checked against copies of the two source documents leading to a number of small improvements but also a scholarly index by Hazel K. Bell (which won the Wheatley Medal, Britains major indexing award), as well as 16 pages of black-and-white photographs taken by Lawrence and others during the Arab Revolt.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the story of T. E. Lawrence's (1888-1935) remarkable odyssey as instigator, organizer, hero, and tragic figure of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which he began as an eccentric junior intelligence officer and ended as "Lawrence of Arabia." This time defined Lawrence with indelible experience and celebrity, which he would spend the rest of his famously short life struggling to reconcile and reject, to recount and repress. Lawrence famously resisted publication of his masterwork for the general public during his lifetime. The saga is remarkable.
He nearly completed a massive first draft in 1919, only to famously lose it when his briefcase was mislaid at a train station. This first draft was never recovered. At a fever pitch, Lawrence wrote a new 400,000 word draft in 1920. This punishing burst of writing was followed by an equally brutal process of editing by Lawrence. In 1922, a 335,000 word version was carefully circulated to select friends and literary critics - the famous "Oxford Text". George Bernard Shaw called it "a masterpiece". Nonetheless, Lawrence was unready to see it distributed to the public. Finally, in 1926, a further edited 250,000 word "Subscribers' Edition" was produced by Lawrence - but fewer than 200 copies were made, each lavishly and uniquely bound. The process cost Lawrence far more than he made in subscriptions. To recover the loss, Lawrence finally authorized an edition for the general public - but one even further abridged and entitled "Revolt in the Desert". It was only in the summer of 1935, in the weeks following Lawrence's death, that the text of the Subscribers' Edition was finally published for circulation to the general public.
However, the fuller "Oxford Text" - a third longer than the shortened text which became so famous - would not be republished until 1997. Castle Hill took this text from Lawrences original manuscript in the Bodleian Library and Lawrence's annotated proof copy of the 1922 Oxford Times printing. Castle Hill Press first published a three-volume limited edition of 752 sets of the Oxford Text, followed by this one-volume limited edition in 2003.
Reference: see O'Brien A034a.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Churchill Book Collector (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 004954
- Title
- Seven Pillars of Wisdom: a triumph, the complete 1922 'Oxford' text, limited one-volume edition, hand-numbered copy #"98", one of 180 issued thus in quarter Nigerian goatskin
- Author
- T. E. Lawrence and Jeremy Wilson
- Format/Binding
- Quarter goatskin
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Castle Hill Press
- Place of Publication
- Salisbury, England
- Date Published
- 2003
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Churchill Book Collector
Biblio member since 2010
San Diego, California
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We buy and sell books by and about Sir Winston Churchill. If you seek a Churchill edition you do not find in our current online inventory, please contact us; we might be able to find it for you. We are always happy to help fellow collectors answer questions about the many editions of Churchill's many works.
Glossary
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- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Goatskin
- Goatskin, leather made from goat, is durable and easy to dye. The original and finest examples of Morocco binding are goatskin....
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- New
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- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Top Edge Gilt
- Top edge gilt refers to the practice of applying gold or a gold-like finish to the top of the text block (the edges the pages...
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.