|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Looking ahead Apart from progress-chasing books in production, our two lead editorial projects this autumn are the final volume of Lawrence's Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, and his manual for the 200 Class RAF Seaplane Tender. We originally hoped to print the manual this year, but our binders are too busy to have it finished by Christmas. So we have scheduled both books for next spring. From now on, I plan to give more of my time to editing the T.E. Lawrence Letters series. Other things being equal, we should be able to produce 2-4 volumes a year. This raises a different problem. From what we have seen during the past few months, our present binders may not be able to keep up. It therefore seems sensible to divide production between two sets of suppliers. The problem, of course, is to do that without sacrificing quality - which will not be easy. During the next few weeks we will be looking at three other printer-binder combinations. Lead editorial projects next year will be The Mint, plus another Lawrence text which we will announce later, plus Lawrence's Correspondence with E.M. Forster (et al), and Letters from Carchemish.
T. E. Lawrence, Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, 1929-35We aim to finalise the editorial notes by the end of this year and publish next spring. Working on this final volume in the 1,000-page Lawrence-Shaw set, the most striking thing is the change in tone in Lawrence's letters after his return to England from India at the beginning of 1929. This reflects what was, in reality, a radical change in mood and lifestyle. When he went to India at the end of 1926 he was uncertain about the success of his subscription edition of Seven Pillars, and apprehensive about the critical reception of its public abridgement, Revolt in the Desert, issued in March 1927. In the event, both books earned high praise. He was now a recognised writer. His status no longer rested on his fame as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Encouraged, in India he completed The Mint and accepted a commission for a well paid translation of Homer's Odyssey. Partners in this second project were Bruce Rogers, one of the world's best-known typographers and book-designers, and Emery Walker, father-figure of the British fine-press movement. Back in England, his life was no longer confined to an RAF station thousands of miles from his friends. He was again riding a Brough Superior motor-cycle and could visit people. No less important was the development of his RAF work. In India his role had become increasingly responsible and individual. Back in England the process continued. In 1932 he joined a team committed to developing high-speed motor-boats for the RAF. They did not know it, but their work would make possible the Air Sea Rescue service that helped save thousands of lives during WWII. His term of enlistment was to end in 1935. Before then he invested royalties from the Odyssey in improvements to his cottage at Clouds Hill. Important
The 200 Class
Royal Air Force Seaplane Tender, Provisional Issue of Notes
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publications in 2008 |
T. E. Lawrence, Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, 1928
Update 23 September
The quarter-goatskin and goatskin bindings have at last reached the
front of the queue at The Fine Book Bindery. Work on them will start
next week. It is unlikely that they will be finished before the end of
the first week in October.
These special copies contain 16 pages of photographs, including two further portraits of Lawrence taken by Flight Lieutenant Smetham in December 1928, so the book will contain all four known photographs in that set. There is also a selection of landscape snapshots from the photographs taken during Lawrence's road-tour in Waziristan with Flight Lieutenant Smetham. As source for these we have used the captioned prints sent by Lawrence to Charlotte Shaw. They are presumably prints from the original camera-film, but the definition is poor, suggesting that it was not a good camera. That is a pity, since one of the photographs shows a group of officers at the Scouts' fort at Jandola with Lawrence in uniform on the right, looking faintly embarrassed. To the best of my knowledge the picture has not been published before. As it is in landscape format we have printed it double page, despite the low resolution.
We have not heard from one or two customers who ordered copies of these special bindings for the previous volumes. To keep the bindery's workload to a minimum, we are not binding any spares beyond copies definitely ordered. We will bind more when Vol. IV is finished, next spring, but in the meantime will hold no stock. We will supply any late orders then.
FAQ1: Why are Vols I-III of the Lawrence-Shaw letters not numbered?
Several people have asked why Vols I-III of Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw are not numbered - whereas we numbered Correspondence with Henry Williamson (Vol. IX in the Letters series).The reason is practical. Numbering each volume in the Shaw set would involve trying to ensure that purchasers received the same number in every volume. That would be possible for copies we supply direct, but not possible for copies sold through the book trade. Someone might buy one volume from one shop and another somewhere else.
So we decided to number the final volume only. The edition is limited to 702 four-volume sets. No set will be complete without Volume IV.
FAQ2: I have a volume in the Lawrence-Shaw series. Will I be able to pick up the volumes I lack second-hand?
Probably not, because we will not bind unsold volumes of Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw.
The vast majority of subscribers have taken every volume. Nevertheless, a few have dropped out. I have seen odd volumes offered for sale from time to time.
It will only be possible to obtain the corresponding unsold volumes for a short time, by ordering them new. This is because we bind books in small batches to meet orders. If there is little demand, we shall not store unbound volumes indefinitely.
Once Volume IV - the numbered volume - has been distributed to subscribers, we will assemble as many unsold complete sets as we can. These will be reserved for future sale as sets.
There will be some odd volumes left, reflecting earlier sales to customers who did not complete a set. However, it may be years before these incomplete sets appear on the market. Storing the unbound sheets for so long would be impractical. Also, it might not be possible, in a few years' time, to match the earlier bindings. So, in practice, any unbound odd volumes are likely to be pulped.
If you own one or more volumes of Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw and would like to complete your set, you should order the missing volumes soon. Don't wait for the volumes you lack to appear on the antiquarian market - because they won't exist.
Military Report on the Sinai Peninsula
Compiled by T. E. Lawrence at the GSGS, London,
in November 1914
The current over-commitment at The Fine Book Bindery has been caused largely, we understand, by a delayed publication from a major customer. As things stand, the problem would hold up completion of the Sinai report until late November. We are actively seeking a solution to this, but in the end we may have to wait.
The 1914 original of Lawrence's unsigned Military Report was a restricted publication printed cheaply in pocket-book format. Since the route reports are in tables, they would not fit vertically on a page. Instead, they were printed sideways in small type across double pages. To read them you had to hold the book open with the left-hand side uppermost. These sideways pages are mixed with pages printed normally, so you had to turn the book from time to time...
Click image to
enlarge in a new window
The result was doubtless usable, if you were navigating the Sinai Peninsula on camel-back - but we decided not to copy it. Surely no one would use 1914 route reports to travel through Sinai today. If they did, we certainly wouldn't guarantee the results! (In this litigious age, we had better include a warning to that effect....)
To avoid printing the reports sideways, we typeset our edition in the same large page format as our 1997 Seven Pillars of Wisdom - which measures 282 x 200mm.
Checking the text showed, among other things, how hurriedly Lawrence assembled the original, working long hours at the War Office in the autumn of 1914. There are obvious inconsistencies in wording, as well as typesetting errors and occasional mistakes (e.g., 'summer' for 'winter'). One problem was that Lawrence had to amalgamate information from reports by different travellers, some of which gave place-names in different forms. Also, he was probably unable to correct the proof. By the time it was ready, he would have left for Cairo.
In retrospect, this was one of our more interesting projects. The editorial work involved many decisions; the typesetting likewise. We have never before printed a large map in four colours (to say nothing of a smaller map in two colours).
It was a challenging book to typeset. Here are some comments I sent our professional proof-reader:
The book was printed in 1914, desk-edited to some "Army" house style. That won't have been imposed by TEL, but by the printer's editor, or quite probably the typesetter. As a result there were, for example, full points at the end of every line (headings, contents list, you name it - there were pointless full points everywhere). Likewise there were parentheses everywhere, and parentheses within parentheses, when one set could easily be replaced by commas. And there were lots and lots of BLOCK CAPITALS, including 2-line headings.... I suppose it wasn't then understood that block caps are harder to read than upper/lower case.
Unfortunately, there were also all kinds of inconsistencies, including a curiously unsuccessful attempt to introduce a sub-head structure in the opening section. Then there were notes and column items set in italics - while seemingly similar notes and column items were set in roman. If there was a rule, it's hard to know what it might have been. We'll need to rethink that, consistently. My own preference, unless there's a really strong case for doing otherwise, is to use roman.
TEL won't have been responsible for the house style or typography, so I am content to get rid of it in the interests of a readable edition. My one concession to military typesetting has been to use lining numerals. Non-lining numerals didn't work well in the tabular section of route reports, and I didn't want to use lining on one place and non-lining in another.
We want a readable edition that conforms consistently to style standards. I see no point in trying to impose 1914 style standards: you might as well print a facsimile edition. We want to produce something that looks and reads well.
The report is part of our scholarly edition of Lawrence's writings. It will appeal to more serious T.E. Lawrence collectors and a number of people interested in the Middle East. However, the topic is too narrow for general publication. Our edition will be limited to 227 copies, of which 40 will be in full goatskin and 150 in quarter goatskin with canvas sides. 37 copies will be reserved.
All that remains is the frustrating task of progress-chasing the different bits of the book through production.
Note 28 July
Someone has reminded me that the
Sinai report is listed as a forthcoming publication in Lawrence of
Arabia, The Authorised Biography. Early in 1989, when that was
written, we expected to print it the following year. When the time came,
the economic situation looked increasingly bleak - and we did not then
have an established group of customers. We published nothing more until
1997, after which the Sinai report was postponed to make way
for other projects.
The Programme Update archive was getting too long, so we have divided it by topic. Click the arrows to see past postings about:
 |
General |
|
|
Book production |
|
|
The T.E. Lawrence Letters series |
|
|
Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw |
|
|
Le Gigantesque | The Forest Giant |
|
|
Castle Hill Press, The Society for T.E. Lawrence Studies, The T.E. Lawrence Society |