Notes and abbreviations

There are three main sources of information on the writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom from Lawrence's own pen, all in part contradictory:

Notes - Some notes on the writing of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T E Shaw is the title of a four-page printed leaflet issued with the subscribers' edition, and these notes were incorporated in A W Lawrence's preface to subsequent trade editions.

History - History of Seven Pillars is a document in Lawrence's own hand, dating from January 1927, and therefore written shortly after the subscribers' edition was published. This apparent aide-memoire is closely written on one side of a foolscap sheet and both sides of a half sheet. The manuscript was brought to light in the early 1960s, and is now in the collection of the Humanities Research Centre of the University of Texas.

Bod ms - The manuscript of the third draft of the book, given by Lawrence to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, contains a list of dates relating to the various stages of writing.

The abbreviations indicated will be used wherever a reference is made to these document, and similarly for the following:

Letters - The Letters of T E Lawrence, edited by David Garnett, and published by Jonathan Cape in 1938; [L 266, Edward Garnett, 13.VI.25] - this reference would indicate that the quotation is taken from letter number 266 in the above collection, written by Lawrence to Edward Garnett, and dated thus by him.

Letters to - Letters to T E Lawrence, edited by A W Lawrence, and published by Jonathan Cape in 1962. Page numbers quoted refer to this first edition.

Friends - T E Lawrence by his Friends, edited by A W Lawrence, and published by Jonathan Cape in 1937; page numbers quoted refer to this first edition.

SP - Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Sub ed - Subscribers' edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926.

Tr ed - Trade edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the first public edition of the book, published by Jonathan Cape in 1935.

Biog - T E Lawrence to his Biographers - Robert Graves and Liddell Hart, published by Cassell in 1963. Biog G indicates a page reference in the Graves section of this first combined edition, and Biog LH a page reference in the Liddell Hart section.

Revolt - Revolt in the Desert.

TES-Bruce Rogers - Letters from T E Shaw to Bruce Rogers, privately printed, 1933.

HRC - Humanities Research Centre, University of Texas.

p [284] - square brackets thus indicate the page number was not printed on that page of the 1926 subscribers' edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

/ - indicates a line break in the text of the 1926 subscribers' edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

. . . . - indicates that a section of the quotation has been omitted.

Unless otherwise indicated, page numbers given for Seven Pillars of Wisdom refer to the subscribers' edition.