The texts of Seven Pillars of Wisdom For seventy

The texts of Seven Pillars of Wisdom For seventy-five years after it was completed, few people were able to read the original text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The book has had an extraordinary history.
		1919: the first draft Lawrence almost completed a first draft in 1919. Late that year, however, his briefcase was stolen while he was changing trains at Reading Station. In it were the Seven Pillars manuscript and some important wartime notes. Despite press reports, nothing was recovered. The only fragment of this first text that survived was a typescript of the opening chapters. Left: Press article from January 1920, reporting the loss of the Manuscript.
1920: the book is rewritten Early in 1920 Lawrence hurriedly wrote out a second version, recreating the book from memory while it was fresh in his mind. The result, over 400,000 words, was reasonably complete but "hopelessly bad as a text". Right: T. E. Lawrence, 1919
		1922: a polished text By 1922 Lawrence had rewritten Seven Pillars, checking it wherever he could against contemporary sources. He dreamed that the new version, much more polished than the original, might rank in world literature alongside Moby Dick and The Brothers Karamazof. Later he gave this 1922 manuscript, running to nearly 335,000 words, to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Left: Page from the Bodleian Manuscript, reproduced in Jeremy Wilson, T.E. Lawrence (London, National Portrait Gallery, 1988)
1922: the Oxford Times printing Wishing to circulate the 1922 text among friends and literary critics, he had it typeset at the printing works of the Oxford Times newspaper. To prevent the printers there assembling the book, he sent the chapters in random order. Eight sets of the chapters were printed on a proofing press. As he couldn't afford corrections, they contained innumerable errors. Right: Page from the 1922 Oxford Times printing of Seven Pillars, reproduced in Jeremy Wilson, T.E. Lawrence (London, National Portrait Gallery, 1988)
		Lawrence corrected five sets of the proof printing (and later a sixth) and had them bound. In his own copy he made further amendments in response to readers' comments. In May 2001 a collector paid nearly a million dollars for it, at Christies New York. Those privileged to read the 1922 version (soon dubbed the 'Oxford Text') were extraordinarily impressed. In a private letter to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Bernard Shaw wrote: "The Work is a masterpiece, one of the few very best of its kind in the world." While writing and revising the book, Lawrence had commissioned portraits as illustrations. Remarkable among these was the series of pastel portraits of Arabs by Eric Kennington, mainly drawn in the Middle East in 1921. Left: Portrait of Auda Abu Tayi, 1921, by Eric Kennington. From Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Complete 1922 Text (Fordingbridge, Castle Hill Press, 1997)
The 1926 subscribers' abridgement Lawrence had been overstressed by his wartime campaigns, followed by the effort of writing and rewriting 'Seven Pillars' and a bitter political struggle on behalf of Arab self-government. By 1922 he was suffering from breakdown. In August 1922 he enlisted in the ranks, hoping to 'lie fallow for a time'. However, his mental state continued to worsen. A group of his friends, concerned about the outcome, felt that he needed a constructive project. They persuaded him to abridge 'Seven Pillars' for a lavish subscription edition and promised to find the subscribers. Lawrence, who loved finely printed books, agreed to reduce the Oxford text by a quarter. At 250,000 words it would fit into a single volume printed on handmade paper. Intending at the same time to improve it, he made many minor revisions. But critics who saw both versions were divided about the result. One problem was undoubtedly his state of mind. Half way through the work he threatened to commit suicide when it was completed. Another difficulty was that he could no longer identify with the text. His wartime experiences seemed to have "gone remote" from him.
		Above: Page from the 1926 Subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars, reproduced in Jeremy Wilon, T.E. Lawrence (London, National Portrait Gallery, 1988)

	The subscribers' edition, less than 200 copies, was issued at the end of 1926. It was superbly illustrated. By the time they were complete, each subscription copy had cost Lawrence nearly three times its price. To recover the loss, he was forced to authorize a still-greater abridgement for the general public. This was titled Revolt in the Desert. Copies of this subscribers' edition of Seven Pillars were all bound differently. Currently (2003) copies offered in the antiquarian book trade are priced in the region of £40,000-£60,000 (US$70,000-100,000) Left: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Subscribers' edition, 1926. The binding of this copy by C&C McLeish, now in the New York Public Library, was commissioned by Lawrence for Bernard and Charlotte Shaw. Its design inspired the binding for the full-leather copies of the Shaw volumes in the T. E. Lawrence Letters series (Fordingbridge, Castle Hill Press, 2000 et seq.) (Photo: George Hoffman)
1935: posthumous editions In the summer of 1935, within weeks of Lawrence's death, the subscribers' abridgment was published for general circulation. It was hinted, however, that the fuller Oxford text would be issued after an interval of ten years. The novelist E.M. Forster, who had read both versions, commented in his review: "the ‘Oxford’ is in the judgment of several critics even superior to the version offered now, and it is good news that a reprint of it may eventually be made." Arabian explorer H.St.J.B. Philby put it more bluntly: 'It is this [the Oxford Text] we want rather than the subscribers' edition which we are now given.' The published Seven Pillars quickly became a world classic, translated into many languages. Over time, its continuing success became an insuperable obstacle to publishing the fuller 'Oxford' version. With the abridged text selling so well, why go to the huge expense of publishing a book 200 pages longer?			Four of the many editions and translations of the subscribers' abridgement: Left to right, top to bottom: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, UK Los Siete Pilares de la Sabiduria, Argentine Les Sept Piliers de la Sagesse, France Die Sieben Säulen der Weisheit, Germany.
	1997: The Oxford Text published The impasse continued until the subscribers' abridgement went out of copyright in Britain. At that point, its British publishers lost their exclusive control of the rights. Thereafter, while they might not wish to publish the Oxford version, they could not prevent anyone else doing so. A "best text" was prepared, based on the Bodleian manuscript and Lawrence's amended copy of the Oxford Times printing. In 1997, seventy-five years after it was completed, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Complete 1922 Text was finally published. Left: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the Complete 1922 Text (Fordingbridge, Castle Hill Press 1997). Binding of the two text volumes by Glenn Bartley, 1998, commissioned by the publishers as a model for the bindings of copies 1-20 of the 750-copy edition. 288 x 210 mm. Goatskin with airbrushed calf; goatskin doublures; gilt edges; gold and blind tooling. (Photo: Glenn Bartley)
February 2004: the first trade edition Eighty-two years after it was written, the full Oxford Text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom is at last published in a book-trade edition. The one-volume printing (preceded by a Subscribers' Library Edition) also contains the first in-depth index to Seven Pillars.