Praise...

Throughout the summer of 1927 the post carried congratulatory comments, from many of those who had received copies of SP, to India, where Lawrence was safely out of the reach of a curious British public. Winston Churchill wrote '. . . when I put down the Seven Pillars, I felt mortified at the contrast between my dictated journalism & yr grand & permanent contribution to English literature', then mischievously added 'I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where.' (1)

John Buchan was equally laudatory - 'The copy I received was most gorgeously bound. I never tire of reading it, for, apart from anything else, it is the best work on metaphysics produced in our time' (2); while David Garnett regretted the limited readership of the book - 'Great books exist for everyone to read: they are not part or property of the author: still less are they the property of a hundred and ten rich men.' (3)

1	Letters to, 16.v.27, p 24
2	Letters to, 13.vii.27, p 21
3	Letters to, Guy Fawkes Day [5th November], 1927, p 76

Next section - ...criticism

The writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom - full listing