Castle Hill Press

 

T. E. Lawrence, Towards 'An English Fourth'

Fragments and echoes of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1918-21

Fine-press edition printed for subscribers

Castle Hill Press, 2009
Edition of 227 numbered copies
Edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson
Introduction by Jeremy Wilson

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THIS BOOK

"Do you remember my telling you once that I collected a shelf of ‘Titanic’ books . . . and that they were The Karamazovs, Zarathustra, and Moby Dick. Well, my ambition was to make an English fourth."

During the period 1919-22 T.E. Lawrence's intellectual and creative powers were at their zenith. At the Peace Conference, in Whitehall and at All Souls he mixed with some of the most brilliant men and women of his time. His personal outlook was informed by two cultures. His opinions drew on an extraordinary range of experience, and on first-hand knowledge of the peoples of the Middle East.

His writings during this period show a breadth of analysis unparalleled in anything he wrote before or afterwards. In Seven Pillars of Wisdom and in essays like 'The Changing East' and 'Evolution of a Revolt' you can see the calibre of mind that impressed contemporaries such as Winston Churchill, Arnold Toynbee and Lionel Curtis. These qualities are surely one of the reasons why Seven Pillars of Wisdom has had such enduring appeal.

Apart from private correspondence, Lawrence's writings during these first post-war years fall into two categories.

• Political and diplomatic writing relating to the future of the Middle East. (We plan to publish this category in a separate volume.)
• Writings about the history of the Arab Revolt, which culminated in the 1922 text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Towards 'An English Fourth' corresponds to the second category. We have gathered surviving drafts and other writings that reflect the first two manuscripts of Seven Pillars - neither of which survive.

List of contents

1. Introduction by Jeremy Wilson p. vii
2. 'Story of the Arab Movement' – 1918, from The Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1919 p.3
3. 'Release of Damascus' – Palestine News, October 10, 1918 p.9
4. 'The Arab Campaign' – The Times, November 26–8, 1918 p.15
5. 'Demolitions under Fire' – The Royal Engineers' Journal, January 1919 p.31
6. 'The Arab Revolt' – January 1919 p.37
7. 'Notes on Camel-Journeys' – Arab Bulletin, May 24, 1919 p.43
8. Notes for Seven Pillars of Wisdom – May 1919 p.45
9. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, fragment of early draft p.47
10. 'Sidelights on the Arab War' – The Times, September 4, 1919 p.107
11. 'Sherif Feisal' – early 1920, The Landmark, October 1921 p.111
12. Seven Pillars of Wisdom – surviving page from the second draft p.115
13. 'Emir Feisal' – The Times, 7 and 11 August 1920 p.117
14. 'The Evolution of a Revolt' – Army Quarterly, October 1920 p.125
15.  'The Changing East' – The Round Table, September 1920 p.141
16. Seven Pillars of Wisdom – eight sample chapters for a projected abridgement – 1920 p.155
17. Introduction to Travels in Arabia Deserta by C. M. Doughty – 1920 p.251
18. Preface to the catalogue for an exhibition of Arab Portraits by Eric Kennington – August 1921  p.263
19. Editors’ note, sources and acknowledgments 267

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SPECIFICATION

Edition of 227 numbered copies, of which 190 are for sale.

Trimmed page-size 282 x 200 mm.

280 pages, frontis., colour facsimiles.

Designed and typeset in Caslon by Castle Hill Press. Printed on high-quality paper.

Bound by The Fine Book Bindery

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Quarter-goatskin binding

ISBN: 9781873141472

150 copies (numbered 41-190) bound in quarter crimson goatskin with cream canvas sides; head and tail bands, top edge gilt. 

Issued in a card slip-case.

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Full goatskin binding

ISBN: 9781873141489

This issue contains eight additional pages of text.

40 copies (numbered 1-40) bound in full crimson goatskin. All edges gilt, head and tail bands, hand-marbled endpapers by Ann Muir Marbling.

Issued in a rigid slip-case.

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Thirty-seven copies are reserved