Introduction

The bibliographical problem

T. E. Lawrence wrote a thesis, two books, two translations, and a number of shorter essays and articles. It follows that the conventional treatment used, for example, in the Soho Bibliographies, would produce a very slender volume, describing the few first editions in the canon. Yet three of Lawrence's four major works were very successful. Seven Pillars of Wisdom has sold well over a million copies and is one of the most famous autobiographical accounts a First World War campaign. Early editions are rare and valuable, but the many reprints have relatively slight bibliographical interest. In fact, most collectors and book-dealers are more interested in the first editions of T. E. Lawrence biographies than in later reprints of Seven Pillars.

There is another way in which Lawrence is a special case for a bibliographer. He was a writer of distinction, yet the great majority of readers and researchers are more interested in his life than in printings of his books. Few of these people need, or are familiar with, full bibliographical descriptions presented in the order that each work was first published. Most of them want a reference source that gives clear, concise guidance about publication of Lawrence's writings and about the major biographical works.

A different approach

My original intention, in the late 1960s, was to compile a conventional descriptive bibliography of Lawrence's works. However, I soon realised that this would satisfy only a small part of the requirement. I therefore set about developing a type of check-list that would provide a useful and easily comprehensible level of information, helpful to the greatest number of readers. Unlike a conventional descriptive bibliography, it would cover both the Lawrence canon and the most important secondary materials in a single sequence, arranged alphabetically by author. 

Above all, the result had to be a user friendly reference work of reasonable length. Its descriptions, for example of pagination, should be consistent with descriptive bibliography, yet readily comprehensible when compared to a library catalogue.

By that time, both as a collector and through my work on Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography, I had amassed a collection of biographical and bibliographical information which had few, if any, parallels elsewhere. For my own purposes, I and my research assistants had built up a computer catalogue of Lawrence's manuscripts, letters and published writings, as well as the biographical studies and references.

In the mid-1980s I planned to publish this Guide as a bibliographical companion to Lawrence of Arabia, the Authorised Biography. This meant expanding our in-house listing and making it coherent. Two of my research assistants, Nigel Webb and Martin Holmes, spent a considerable amount of time on it. In the process, we took into account the specific needs of researchers, librarians, collectors and book-dealers. Before the principles of description were finalised, a trial section was circulated to several authorities in these fields. Their comments were encouraging: 'I thoroughly approve your approach to the problem. It seems to me a sensible and elastic formula, well adapted to the special needs of the subject. I don't think that it would do for every author, but it is ideal for your purpose ... The alphabetical arrangement keying a reader into what has been written about Lawrence, through the authors, is an admirable innovation.' (Nicolas Barker).

The project as it stood in 1985

We intended to publish the Guide in 1986. At that time, the completed listing would have included the location of most of Lawrence's manuscripts, and information about some 5,000 letters, reports and memoranda surviving from his correspondence. Editions of more than 500 books and ephemeral items by and about Lawrence were described, with notes on some 400 reprints. A further 250 printed sources of biographical information were listed in head-notes. Of 500 cross-references, half were analytical, drawing attention to contributions rarely mentioned in such listings. Additional brief notes, which I was in the process of drafting when the project was postponed, were to tell the reader about the scope and quality of each printed text.

A novel feature of the list was that it grouped together the materials relating to each of Lawrence's friendships. Thus a reader interested in Lawrence and Bernard Shaw would find under 'SHAW (George Bernard)' details of published and unpublished correspondence, of Shaw's writings on Lawrence, and of secondary biographical discussion of their friendship.

Planned appendices included a chronological account of T. E . Lawrence's writings, a title index of T. E. Lawrence biographies, and select reading lists on specific topics and different periods in Lawrence's life. These were to include additional background sources that did not qualify for the main listing.

Then, to my dismay, publication had to be postponed because of a series of unforeseen obstacles.

The new revision

Between 1986 and 1989 my time was taken up almost exclusively on the authorised biography. After that, our plans for publication were again frustrated, this time by the recession. Meanwhile, however, the World Wide Web and hypertext began to open up very exciting possibilities for reference works.

In 1995 I decided to make the Guide to manuscripts and printed materials one of the key elements in the T. E. Lawrence web-site I was planning. Volunteers began, in spare moments, the considerable task of converting the single alphabetical sequence into a multi-layered hypertext structure, and enhancing the cross-references with links. As the Bodleian Library had generously offered me space for the web-site on its server, it seemed appropriate to add Bodleian shelfmarks to the Guide. With Phil O'Brien's permission, we also included the reference numbers for each work in his T. E. Lawrence: a descriptive bibliography, which has been published in the interim. 

I believe that most readers will find the heavily cross-referenced listing in the Guide a very useful complement to the fuller bibliographical descriptions in the Bibliography. I also think that the Guide, like many other reference books, works even better in hypertext than it would have worked in print. After much hesitation I have added a reference number to each entry, based on its website filename. I do not commend these numbers for general working reference, and believe that the Bibliography numbers should be used in preference. However, the numbers here may be useful in cases where a book described is not yet listed in an updated edition of the Bibliography. Anyone with a basic understanding of computer directory structures and knowing a particular reference number should have little difficulty calling up the corresponding description-page from the on-line Guide.

Recent publications

Much has been published since our cut-off point for the proposed 1986 edition. At present, many of the more recent editions are noted here as "not yet examined". It seemed more important to make our existing information available than to hold everything up while I listed recent publications. In any case, this on-line Guide has the considerable merit that it can easily be updated. I fully expect that more material will be added in the future, and I hope that users will draw unlisted material to my attention.

Work in progress

It will be some time before all the elements described above have been incorporated into this on-line version of the Guide. 

Jeremy Wilson

Contents page | Principles of description