Decisions

At the beginning of December 1923 an important meeting took place. Lawrence, Hogarth, Lionel Curtis and Alan Dawnay got together to discuss the future of SP - and decisions were at last reached. The meeting was 'minuted' in a letter to Robin Buxton dated 13.XII.23. (1) Lawrence would begin immediately planning for one hundred copies of the book, complete with illustrations, to be priced at 30 guineas [£31.50], plus twenty incomplete copies which would be given to some of his Arabian campaign colleagues. He would assume sole responsibility for the printing, production and distribution of the book, principally because he considered that parts of it must inevitably be considered libellous, [although he later denied this] (2), and any subsequent action in the courts would make little headway against a man with no money. Friends such as those at the meeting would tell their friends that the book would possibly be out in a year's time; subscribers could pay by cheque if they wished, and applications for a copy should be sent to Lawrence. Buxton was to arrange the technicalities of a special account for the receipt of subscriptions.

Lawrence would meanwhile negotiate with a private printer. It was his intention that the production should contravene the Copyright Act, in that the printer's name would not appear on the finished copies, and Lawrence was to consider taking a £10 share in the printing firm engaged to do the work so that he could claim responsibility. A subsequent version of this particular idea was that, if challenged in the first six months, after which he thought an action unlikely - he would tear off the printer's name and claim to have printed it himself, but if there were no problems, then the printer should get full credit for what would undoubtedly be an excellent production.

The finance required for the colour printers to begin work was £200, and the first four drawings would be sent to them as soon as subscriptions had reached this sum. Lawrence would continue his amendment of the text, the sole criterion for this revision being literary fitness, with 'no improvement in morals or decency', and with the aim of possibly reducing its length by not more than ten per cent. He was to reaffirm this particular policy in a letter to Garnett in the January (3) - 'Yes, it will be revised, but only in petto. No good cuts or noble changes, no re-writing: just punctuation, and insect-blemishes removed.'

The finances of the operation would be fully explained to subscribers - that the proposed edition of 100 copies was based on production costs of £3,000 - with a 10% margin for eventualities; if costs fell below this level, fewer than 100 copies would be distributed; if they proved higher, as many more as were required to meet the extra expenditure would be offered for sale. Whatever the outcome, the price would remain at 30 guineas. There was to be no element of profit and the total proceeds would equal the total costs by either of these means. Hogarth would literary-edit the proofs, and Kennington art-edit the blocks.

A draft letter was prepared for potential subscribers (4) - 'I asked Buxton to refer everyone to me that I might explain to each the details of my proposed private issue of The Seven Pillars.

'For copyright reasons, and because the book is somewhat outspoken regarding myself, I am not publishing it, but am trying to raise enough private subscribers to cover the cost of production.

'Estimates (necessarily provisional) for block-making and printing total about £3000. Consequently I've suggested 100 subscribers at 30 guineas. If the bills come to more I'd print 105 or 110 copies (supposing extra subscribers are to be found). If it costs less I'd dock its tail of the list. Circumstances make me unable to profit by its job.

'Type, paper, and illustrations will be decent of their kinds (I hope!) and the complete work, as sent to subscribers, will not be reissued in my lifetime.

'At the same time the people who were partners with me in the Arab Revolt will want copies, and I propose to GIVE to them (at my expense) copies of the text, with such illustrations as immediately concern them. No such copy will be complete: and I will give them only to people mentioned in my text, and only to such of those as I think fit. At present I don't know how many of them will want copies: more than twenty, less than fifty, I fancy. The fact that the free copies will be incomplete prevents their affecting the rarity value of the subscribers' edition.

'I'm bound to say that I think the book exceedingly dear, an unjustifiable purchase either as investment for resale, or as a thing for reading: and I hope no one will decide to get it unless he is in the position to (mis) spend thirty guineas without a regret.'

No completion date was promised - 1924 was a possibility - or 1925, and Lawrence hoped to copyright the text so that no other form of publication in the USA or the European copyright union would be possible. It was also his stated intention that no copies would be given to libraries and the book would not be reviewed. It was, in effect, to be merely a vehicle to finance the reproduction of its remarkable illustrations.

A mid-December letter from Lawrence to Kennington included more specific details on the book's format: 'I want it done Monotype in eleven point or fourteen point, of a type approximating to o.[ld] f.[ace] Caslon unleaded: with side headings in side-margin: no top-heading, lines not long, but print panel taller than usual in quartos.' (5)

1	L 232
2	Biog G, p 117
3	L 237, 1.1.24
4	L 234, draft of letter to subscribers to SP, 19.XII.23 [date deleted]
5	T E Lawrence: Fifty Letters, 1920-1935. An Exhibition, HRC [Austin, Texas, 1962], p 13 [15 December 1923], quoted by Jeffrey Meyers, The Wounded Spirit, Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, 1973, p 64

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