Crusader Castles
by T.E. Lawrence
Edited with
an introduction by Denys Pringle Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1988 Hardback, 194 pages, frontispiece, numerous halftones and line drawings,
234x156 mm. Cloth binding, illustrated dust
jacket.
ISBN: 0-19-822964-X List
price: £58.00
BEST EDITION
What
is it?
Crusader
Castles is the published title for the undergraduate thesis
Lawrence wrote as part of his examination for an Oxford
University BA in 1910. The thesis title was The Influence of
the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the End of
the XIIth Century.
Includes some photographs, drawings and plans by Lawrence,
though many are from published sources. Lawrence's images are
rarely identified as such
Comment
Unless
you are particularly interested in this period of Lawrence's
life, or in the history of military architecture, you are
unlikely to find this academic thesis an enthralling read.
This
edition
In terms of
content, this is by far the best and most scholarly edition of
Crusader Castles. The appendixes include hitherto
unpublished text from a preliminary draft of the thesis, now in
the Bodleian Library. Denys Pringle's authoritative
19-page introduction sets the thesis in the context of more
recent research.
Denys Pringle,
the editor, was at the time Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Historic Buildings and
Monuments Directorate, Scottish Development Department.
Availability
The original printing has sold out. Print-on-demand copies are
now available from OUP. If you have difficulty ordering a copy,
you can order direct from the OUP website (enter Crusader Castles in the site-search
box).
Other editions
The
original edition, published by the Golden Cockerel Press in
1936, is a fine-press book. It should contain two folding
maps, loosely inserted in an envelope.
The
Golden Cockerel Press 1936 edition is usually accompanied by
a second volume issued some months later. This contains a
selection of Lawrence's letters of the period. However, its
content was superseded by The Home Letters of T.E.
Lawrence and his Brothers (Oxford, Blackwell, 1954). All
these letters will soon be available in the
Writings section of T.E.
Lawrence Studies
Sets of
the Golden Cockerel Press edition offered by antiquarian
book dealers are often priced at £800 ($1,600) or more
Even if
you collect fine-press books or wish to own the first
edition, any serious T.E. Lawrence collector should have Denys Pringle's edition
A
photo-litho reprint of the Golden Cockerel Press edition
was issued by Michael Haag in 1986 and later reissued by Immel
Publishing. It lacks the important introduction by A.W. Lawrence.
While presentable, especially in hardback, it is
neither the best edition nor the first edition, nor even a
complete facsimile. Some book dealers nevertheless ask a
high price.
Online:
in due course the thesis text and illustrations will be available
in the
Writings section of T.E.
Lawrence Studies
Larger image
opens in a new window
The Wilderness of Zin
By T. E. Lawrence and
C. Leonard Woolley Revised edition
Preface by Jonathan Tubb
Introduction by Sam T. Moorhead London,
Stacey International, 2003
Hardback, lxviii + 290
pages, frontispiece, numerous halftones and line
drawings, 217x187 mm. Cloth binding, Illustrated dust jacket.
ISBN1900988 291 List
price:
£25.00 BEST EDITION
What
is it? The
Wilderness of Zin is an archaeological
report written by Leonard Woolley and T.E. Lawrence in 1914. It
describes their findings during a survey made in the winter of
1913-14 of part of the Sinai
Peninsular. The archaeological work had
been a disguise for a team of Royal Engineers who were mapping the area.
Illustrated with maps, drawings and photographs. The
photographs are mainly by Lawrence
Comment
Unless
you are interested in this period of Lawrence's
life, or in the archaeology of the Sinai Peninsular, you may
find this report heavy going.
This
edition The content of
this edition makes all earlier editions obsolete. In addition to the original
report and illustrations, it contains:
Preface
by Jonathan Tubb
A
substantial essay by Sam Moorhead 'The Genesis, conduct and
publication of the survey' pp. xiii-xliv
Bibliography
Interesting appendixes including contemporary letters
relating to the survey
Availability This is the
only edition in print.
Other editions
The
original edition, published as an annual of the Palestine
Exploration Fund for 1914-1915, is now a scarce and
expensive book
After
Lawrence's death a new edition was published in England by
Jonathan Cape (issued in America by Scribner's). Although it
is in a slightly larger in format than the current edition,
it lacks the additional
content
Online:
there is a facsimile of the original edition
online
Larger image opens in
a new window
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The
Complete 1922 Text Fordingbridge, Castle
Hill Press, 2003 Library
Edition, hardback, limited to
1,125 numbered copies ISBN: 1873141394. 240x156mm.
896 pages, 16 pages of b&w
illustrations,
coloured map endpapers (reproducing the maps Lawrence arranged to
have printed for his 1926 subscription edition),
Standard binding (1,000 copies) full cloth with gilt top edge and
placemark ribbon.
Issued in glassine dust jacket. (Also available in
quarter-goatskin.) Price: £45.00 BEST EDITION
What is it? Seven
Pillars of Wisdom is Lawrence's account of
his service as a British liaison officer with the Arab forces during
their revolt
against the Turks in 1916-18. It is, however, far
more than a military memoir. Its vivid descriptions of people, places
and desert journeys have placed it among the twentieth century's greatest works
of travel literature.
This is the full 'Oxford' text of Seven Pillars, completed
in 1922 but not published until 1997. It is 84,000 words (about 200
pages) longer than the abridgement that Lawrence made for a de-luxe subscribers' edition
which he issued in 1926. It was the subscribers' abridgement, not this full text,
that was issued for general circulation after his death.
Comment Apart from the additional biographical and
historical material in this fuller text, many people find its more
relaxed writing easier than the abridgement to read. For a history and
discussion of the two Seven Pillars texts, see Jeremy Wilson, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom - triumph and tragedy' (especially the
third section, where the texts
are compared).
This
edition:
Typeset by Castle Hill Press to fine-press standards, this 2003 second edition is the best published text. It
incorporates a number of corrections to the text of the first
edition, published in
1997
It also contains the first publication of a scholarly 49-page index by Hazel K. Bell.
This won the Wheatley Medal, Britain's top award for indexing
In 2004,
shortly after this edition was published, a trade edition was
issued with the same contents. This deluxe numbered edition on
cream paper is bound in traditional cloth with a gilt top edge
and place-mark ribbon.
Other
editions This is the only available edition of the full 1922 Oxford text.
The large-format 3-volume subscription edition published by Castle
Hill Press in 1997 at a subscription price of £150 is now
offered by antiquarian booksellers at prices from £850 ($1,300) upwards
The
one-volume trade edition published by J. and N. Wilson in 2004
is out of print
There has
been no American edition of the 1922 text of Seven Pillars
of Wisdom. US residents can order it by mail from
Castle Hill Press.
Larger image
opens in a new window
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
[Text of the 1926 subscribers'
abridgement]
UK: Penguin Books,
'Penguin Classics' London, reprint,
2000
Paperback, pages,
frontispiece, 129x198 mm
704 pages
ISBN: 9780141182766 List
price:
£10.99
This edition is also widely available in the US.
USA:
Anchor Books Reissue edition (June 1, 1991) Paperback, 8 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches ISBN: 0385418957,
978-0385418959 List price: £19.95
What
is it? The text of
these editions is the 1926 subscribers' abridgement, not the
complete 1922 'Oxford' text (listed above).
These
editions Penguin Books
first published a paperback of Seven Pillars shortly after the
release of the film in 1963. It has been reprinted many times and is
now in the Penguin Modern Classics series.
The Anchor
edition is the best American paperback.
Comment This is an
abridgement. Consider buying the
Complete 1922 Text, which is
fuller and (many people say) easier to read.
Availability
Both editions are in print.
Other editions The 1926 subscribers' abridgement of
Seven Pillars, first published for general circulation
after Lawrence's death in 1935, has been printed many times in
English and in translation.
Wordsworth
Classics publish a reprint on cheap paper which may be a better buy if
you plan to read this on holiday. The Penguin edition is better
produced and, if you intend to keep the book, should last
longer.
All English
printings before 1940, and American printings until much more
recently, omitted the original introductory chapter
Le Gigantesque | The Forest
Giant By Adrien Le Corbeau,
translated into English by J.H. Ross Fordingbridge, Castle Hill Press, 2004
Fine-press edition of 352 numbered copies Hardback, quarter-cloth,
xviii,106 pages, frontispiece, 240x156mm. Also available in
quarter-goatskin. List price:
£110
BEST EDITION
What
is it? In 1923
Lawrence offered his services to the publisher Jonathan Cape for
translating books from French to English. Cape sent him a novel
called Le Gigantesque, by Adrien Le Corbeau, which had
recently won the Prix Montyon.
Comment
The novel, an allegory written around the life of a giant sequoia
tree, particularly fitted Lawrence's state of mind at that time. His
free rendering is a remarkable piece of work. For an account of the
translation, see Jeremy Wilson's
Foreword to this edition.
This
edition This fine-press edition prints the
French original and Lawrence's free English rendering on facing
pages, enabling readers with a knowledge of French to assess
Lawrence's translation of the work. The Foreword contains a
historical account of the translation, including extracts from
letters.
There is no
other edition showing the French and English texts in
parallel. Jeremy Wilson's Foreword contains background
information.
The English
text of The
Forest Giant was previously published
in small editions in England by Jonathan Cape in 1924 and 1935,
and in America by
Harper and Doubleday, Doran (1936). The 1935/6 editions
contain illustrations by Agnes Miller Parker.
Online:
Lawrence's English text of The Forest Giant is available
in the
Writings section of T.E.
Lawrence Studies
Quarter-cloth
one of 300 copies
Larger image opens in a new window
Quarter-goatskin
one of 45 copies
Larger image opens in a new window
The Odyssey of Homer translated into English by T.E. Lawrence
Introduction
by Bernard Knox New York,
OUP, 1991
Hardback, ISBN 0195068181, 9780195068184 352 pages, 9¼x6⅛
Price: $40, £22.41
What is
it? A translation of Homer's Odyssey originally
commissioned by Bruce Rogers for a fine-press edition. Published in
America as a trade hardback, it became phenomenally successful.
Comment Lawrence's translation of the
Odyssey has been continuously in print for 75 years. It is among
his major literary
achievements.
The edition
Reprint of the original Oxford University Press edition with an
introduction by Bernard Knox.
Availability
In print, available in the UK and US.
Other editions
There have
been numerous printings in Britain and the US.
The
original English limited edition, published by Bruce
Rogers, Wilfred Merton and Emery Walker in 1932, is considered
to be one of the most beautiful fine-press books of the
twentieth century
An edition
illustrated by Barry Moser with a preface by Jeremy Wilson was
published by the Limited Editions Club in 1981
Cheap
paperback editions have been published in the US by Galaxy Books
and in the UK by Wordsworth editions.
Online:
Lawrence's Odyssey translation will be posted in the
Writings section of T.E. Lawrence Studies
Larger image
opens in a new window
Collected minor writings
Oriental Assembly Edited by A.W.
Lawrence
Inroduction by Malcolm Brown London, Imperial War
Museum, 2005 Paperback,
213x135mm, [22],292 pages,
frontispiece, numerous photographs ISBN: 1904897150 List price: £12.99
What
is it? A collection of
Lawrence's minor writings, edited by A.W. Lawrence. Contents:
Lawrence's
diary of a journey across the Euphrates, 1911, with photographs
'The
Changing East'
'Evolution
of a Revolt'
The
suppressed introductory chapter to Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Lawrence's
preface to the 1927 Leicester Galleries exhibition of portraits
and other illustrations for the subscribers' edition of
Seven Pillars
A selection
of Lawrence's war photographs
Comment A useful edition of this standard collection, but the
reproduction of the photographs leaves something to be desired.
This
edition Reprint of the
edition published by the Imperial War Museum in hardback in 1991. First paperback
edition and the only edition in print. Published to coincide with
the Imperial War Museum's exhibition 'T.E.Lawrence - the life, the
legend'
Availability In print.
Other editions
Oriental
Assembly was originally published in 1940 by
Williams & Norgate. The reproduction of photographs in the
first two Williams & Norgate printings is better than in any
later reprint
New edition
published by the Imperial War Museum, with an introduction by
Malcolm Brown, 1991
The texts of
all the writings by T.E. Lawrence in this collection will soon
be available in the
Writings section of T.E.
Lawrence Studies
Lawrence of Arabia, The
Selected Letters Edited by Malcolm
Brown London, Little Books, 2005, ISBN 0 904435 43 2 xxxiv,590p, hardback, photographs and facsimiles in text, index,
£20.00
What
is it? A collection of Lawrence's letters
that complements rather than replacing David Garnett's
remarkable Letters of T.E. Lawrence (1938). The
collection provides an excellent introduction to Lawrence's
correspondence.
Comment While the amendments to the text merit 'best edition'
status, this is a cheap hardback reprint. The earlier hardback
editions are much nicer books to handle.
This
edition Published in
2006 to coincide with the Imperial War Museum's exhibition 'T.E.
Lawrence, the life, the legend'.
Availability In print
Other editions
This is a
slightly corrected version of the edition published by in
England by J.M. Dent
in 1988, and in the US by Norton.
Larger image opens
in a new window
T. E.
Lawrence in War and Peace
Edited with an introduction by Malcolm
Brown London,
Greenhill Books,
2005 Hardback,320 pages,
frontispiece, numerous halftones and line drawings,
236x155mm ISBN: 1853676535,
978-1853676536 List price:£25.00, $39.95
BEST EDITION
What
is it? After
Lawrence's death his literary executor published a selection of
his wartime reports as Secret Despatches from Arabia.
This new edition contains additional material including some
post-war writings on the Middle East.
Comment This is an important collection for anyone interested in
Lawrence's wartime career and subsequent diplomatic work.
This
edition Published to
coincide with the Imperial War Museum's exhibition 'T.E.Lawrence -
the life, the legend'.
Availability In print.
Other editions
Secret
Despatches from Arabia, Golden Cockerel Press, 1939 (a
fine-press edition limited to 1,000 copies) contains the wartime
reports
Secret Dispatches from Arabia, Bellew Publishing,
1991 contains some additional material, but less than the
present volume
Online:
Most of Lawrence's wartime dispatches and post-war essays on the
Middle East are already available in the
Writings section of T.E. Lawrence Studies
Larger image opens
in a new window
Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw,
1922-1926, and
1927(2 vols) Edited by
Jeremy and Nicole Wilson Fine-press editions.
T.E.Lawrence:
Letters, Vols I-II Fordingbridge, Castle Hill press, 2000, 2003 Hardbacks,
267x175mm. xx,228p; xviii,238p, frontis.
in each vol. ISBN: 1873141270, 1873141351. (Also
available in quarter-goatskin and full goatskin, containing 16 extra
pages of facsimiles in each volume.) Price, cloth issue: the two volumes
together are available direct from the publishers for £170
BEST EDITION
What
is it? T.E. Lawrence's letters to Bernard
and Charlotte Shaw form his longest and most revealing correspondence,
yet until now few of them have been published. This edition,
part of the definitive T.E. Lawrence Letters series,
contains scholarly editorial notes by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson.
Each volume is indexed by Hazel K.
Bell.
Prospectus,
Forward to Vol. I,
Forward to Vol. II.
Comment The sheer frequency of these letters provides an enormous
amount of information about Lawrence's life and catches him in every
mood. For some topics, the letters are exceptionally important. Vol.
I, for example, contains much information about the revision and
production of the subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars,
while Vols II (and III, forthcoming) offer something akin to a
weekly diary of Lawrence's life during the two years he spent in
India.
This
edition Fine-press
edition limited to 750 sets. There will be four volumes,
of which the two listed here have been published so far.
Availability
These privately printed fine-press editions are not listed in
Books in Print. They are available directly from the
publishers, who ship worldwide. If you wish to subscribe to Volume III, scheduled for publication in
the winter of 2007-8, you can combine this with an order for the
first two volumes to qualify for a lower price.
Volume I is no
longer sold separately.
Other editions
There is no
other edition of this correspondence, though some letters or
extracts from letters have been published elsewhere.
Cloth
700 sets
Larger image opens in a new window
Correspondence with Henry Williamson Edited by
Peter Wilson Foreword by Jeremy Wilson
Prologue and Epilogue by Anne Williamson T.E.Lawrence: Letters, Vol. IX Fordingbridge, Castle Hill
Press, 2000 Hardback,
267x175mm, xviii,220 pages,
frontispiece ISBN: 1873141319 List price:
£105, but see special
offers on the
Castle Hill Press website.
(Quarter-goatskin and full-goatskin issues also available,
containing 16 extra pages of facsimiles) BEST
EDITION
What
is it? In 1941 Henry
Williamson published Genius of Friendship - 'T.E. Lawrence',
an account of his friendship with Lawrence based to a large extent
of extracts from Lawrence's letters. This edition,
Volume IX in the T.E. Lawrence Letters series, contains the
full surviving texts of the correspondence in both directions. It
considerably alters the impression of the relationship given in
Williamson's account. The edition includes a scholarly index by
Hazel Bell.
Foreword by Jeremy Wilson.
This
edition
Fine-press
edition limited to 750 numbered copies.
Availability
This privately printed fine-press edition id not listed in
Books in Print. It is available directly from the
publishers, who ship worldwide.
Other editions
There are no
other editions of the complete surviving correspondence.
Readers
familiar with Williamson's Genius of Friendship will see that
it presents the relationship in a very one-sided manner.
Cloth
One of 700 copies
Larger image opens in a new window
