'Procrustean labour'

But in between these two processes of typesetting and printing, Lawrence got up to what Hogarth was to describe as a 'Procrustean labour of textual adaption to satisfy certain typographic ideals of the author.' (1) As the final pages came to Lawrence at Cranwell, he first proof-read them in the usual way, correcting spelling and other such errors. Then he set about moulding his already finely-honed writing to create what he considered to be the perfect look for each double page opening of letterpress, for his requirements were beyond the skill of the finest compositor - although he later wrote to Bruce Rogers that 'Pike, who re-composed the Seven Pillars, from the galleys which the Monotype Co. sent in, was a jewel of a compositor: he used to alter and re-arrange the words in my sentences, so as to make them fit the pages and lines. Therefore I had no trouble at all.' (2) But the result Lawrence required could be achieved only by detailed re-writing of sentences, paragraphs, whole pages even, again and again, forcing the words to fit a typographic straight-jacket. Wherever possible pages should end with the final word of a paragraph, and just in the bottom right-hand corner of the page, so that the last line was solid with print - the next page could then commence with the adornment of a decorative initial letter for the first word of its new paragraph; long white spaces at the ends of paragraphs were to be avoided and there should be no 'rivers' - white cracks in the printing running down the page. [see Appendix - William Morris]

Remarkably, there is very little trace of this manipulation in the writing itself, and it is rarely obvious to the reader of later editions, where all these typographical niceties were of course abandoned. But if a phrase strikes the ear somewhat unnaturally, or a paragraph begins or ends oddly, ['QUIVERINGLY a citizen woke me', for instance, at the start of Ch CXXII, p 645, is perhaps suggestive of an over-zealous desire to find a further use for a decorative initial letter Q!], it can almost certainly be traced back to a typographic problem in the subscribers' edition. To Vyvyan Richards, Lawrence said that he could 'cut the stuff like soap' (3), putting in or leaving out what he liked - there was so much to choose from; and soap was a favourite simile - to Bruce Rogers he was to state 'What the author writes is like a bar of soap; you can cut it off anywhere, & it's all soap, all through.' (4) But as he commented in a letter to the Shaws, it had been necessary throughout the revisions to keep his rules in mind when changes were made in order to make Pike's work easier, as his printer had to follow the same injunctions.

Regimental Sergeant Major H H Banbury, who had first served with Lawrence at Bovington Camp, described the effort of proof reading - 'His intensity was far more evident when he was checking the proofs of the Seven Pillars, for he would sit with bowed head and clasped hands searching for the exact word or phrase that he sought till the sweat stood out on his forehead and neck. There was physical and mental agony in those hours of silence.' (5)

1	Lawrence of Arabia - Story of his book, The Times, December 13th, 1926
2	TES-Bruce Rogers, 2/X/28
3	T E Lawrence, Vyvyan Richards, Duckworth, 1939, p 124
4	TES-Bruce Rogers, 2/X/28
5	Friends, p 542

Next section - Completion

The writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom - full listing