Contents lists
Updated June 2012
T. E. Lawrence to Jonathan Cape
[Karachi]
25.V.27
Dear Cape,
I’ve been sent wild stories of the genesis of Revolt in the Desert. If you like, make a 'third person' note in your Now and Then booklet saying:-
The abridgement of Mr. T. E. Shaw's Seven Pillars of Wisdom which we were able to publish by arrangement with him on March 10 last, under title Revolt in the Desert by 'T E Lawrence', was made by him in seven hours at Cranwell in Lincolnshire on March 26 and March 27 1926, with the assistance of two airman friends, A/A Knowles and A/c Miller. It was received by us (in the form of cut-down proofs of The Seven Pillars) on March 30, three days later, and reprinted immediately as we received it. There were no author's corrections, nor was this text ever submitted to anyone for advice or criticism. The only subsequent alterations were the division into chapters and the writing in (at the publisher's request) of three paragraphs to justify the inclusion of two much-desired illustrations from the many in The Seven Pillars.
The author has promised the subscribers to Seven Pillars of Wisdom that no further copies of this shall be published during his lifetime: and he will make no additions to the issued text of Revolt in the Desert.
Revolt was sold to us in order that our advance on its royalties might
enable the author to commission extra drawings for The Seven Pillars:
and the author's contract with us gives him the option of terminating
our sale of the book when this advance is fully met.
There: short and sweet! Any good? I think so.
T.E.S.
| Source: | DG 518 |
| Checked: | dn/ |
| Last revised: | 12 February 2006 |
T. E. Lawrence chronology
1888 16 August: born at Tremadoc, Wales
1896-1907: City of Oxford High School for Boys
1907-9: Jesus College, Oxford, B.A., 1st Class Hons, 1909
1910-14: Magdalen College, Oxford (Senior Demy), while working at the British Museum's excavations at Carchemish
1915-16: Military Intelligence Dept, Cairo
1916-18: Liaison Officer with the Arab Revolt
1919: Attended the Paris Peace Conference
1919-22: wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1921-2: Adviser on Arab Affairs to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office
1922 August: Enlisted in the Ranks of the RAF
1923 January: discharged from the RAF
1923 March: enlisted in the Tank Corps
1923: translated a French novel, The Forest Giant
1924-6: prepared the subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1927-8: stationed at Karachi, then Miranshah
1927 March: Revolt in the Desert, an abridgement of Seven Pillars, published
1928: completed The Mint, began translating Homer's Odyssey
1929-33: stationed at Plymouth
1931: started working on RAF boats
1932: his translation of the Odyssey published
1933-5: attached to MAEE, Felixstowe
1935 February: retired from the RAF
1935 19 May: died from injuries received in a motor-cycle crash on 13 May
1935 21 May: buried at Moreton, Dorset