T.E. Lawrence | Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926, Cranwell Edition, Col. Pierce Joyce's copy

T.E. Lawrence

Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A Triumph [London: Privately Printed, 1926]

the Subscriber's or Cranwell Edition, 4to (260 x 205mm), inscribed by Lawrence on p. XIX ("Incomplete copy. 1.XII.26. TES"), 30 (of 66) plates, many coloured or tinted, by Eric Kennington, William Roberts, Augustus John, William Nicholson, Paul Nash and others; 3 (of 4) folding coloured maps backed on linen as issued; 58 illustrations in text, one coloured, by Roberts, Nash, Kennington, Blair Hughes-Stanton, Gertrude Hermes and others, initials by Edward Wadsworth; half tan morocco gilt on boards, spine in six compartments, scuffed, some discolouration to binding, wear to front paste-down, very occasional spotting

[with:] T. E. Lawrence. Autograph letter signed ("TES"), to Colonel Pierce Joyce, expressing his relief that Joyce's copy of Seven Pillars had reached him, expressing his own feelings about his book's success, discussing Joyce's recent retirement as military advisor to King Faisal of Iraq and move home to Ireland, mentioning his own Irish roots ("...We actually come from Killua, in Meath..."), 1 page, folio, RAF Miranshah Fort, Waziristan, 14 June 1928

"...It is an inadequate thing, but probably the best account of the Arab Revolt yet in print. Some day someone will have to do a proper one. I'd have liked to have written a history: but I found that my judgment was too partisan. I do not think I would have been fair to the others..."

A COPY OF SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM BELONGING TO A KEY FIGURE IN THE ARAB REVOLT. Col. Pierce Charles Joyce (1878-1965) had joined the Egyptian Army in 1907 and was a key figure in the British support of the Arab Revolt from its outbreak in 1916. He was commanding officer of Operation Hedgehog, the British military mission to the new Arab army, meaning that for some time Lawrence was nominally under his command. In reality their work ran parallel, with Lawrence advising Feisal on the Bedouin irregulars, and Joyce on the Arab Regulars. Joyce, like Lawrence, led operations against the Hejaz Railway; he also captured the Crusader Castle at Shobak, was responsible for logistical planning for the Allied advance northwards into Palestine, and commanded the armoured cars and artilllery that supported the Arab army in the second half of 1918. Joyce also emerged as the main British liaison with Faisal: he was the intermediary and interpreter when Faisal met Chaim Weizmann in June 1918, attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and was posted to Baghdad as advisor to King Faisal from 1921 until 1927. Lawrence wrote in Seven Pillars that "Joyce was a man in whom one could rest against the world: a serene, unchanging, comfortable spirit. His mind, like a pastoral landscape, had four corners to its view: cared-for, friendly, limited, displayed" (1935 edition, p. 323). A group of photographs, books, and personal effects formerly belonging to Joyce were sold in these rooms in 2018 (10 December 2018, lots 16-18).

Lawrence customarily presented those who had served with him in Arabia with "incomplete" copies of the Cranwell edition, reserving the "complete" copies for subscribers (although many of the copies Lawrence designated as "complete" are missing plates). This copy lacks the following 36 plates: 'Feysal', 'Prophet's Tomb', 'A Garden', 'Camel March', 'At a Well', 'Jidda' (one of four), 'Allenby', 'Wilson', 'Storrs', 'Blasted Tree', 'Lloyd', 'Emir Abdullah', 'Shakir', 'Auda abu Tayi', 'Nawaf Shaalan', 'Matar', 'Mukheymer', 'Mohammed el Sheheri', 'el Zaagi', 'Serj', 'Hemeid Abu Jabir', 'Hussein Mohammed', 'Abu el Rahman', 'Joyce', 'Young', 'G. Dawnay', 'Buxton', 'McMahon', 'Winterton', 'Clayton', 'Waterfall', 'Dysentery', 'Strata', 'Thinking', 'Bombing in Wadi Fara', and 'Tafas'. It does, however, have the "Prickly Pear" and two other plates are misbound with the plates at the end of the book ('Mudowwara', and 'Irish Troops being Shelled').