Revolt in the Desert

Far from the early estimate of £3,000, with its 10% margin for 'eventualities', the subscribers' edition of SP had cost £13,000, the staggering equivalent of close on £¼m in terms of early 1980s purchasing power. So, as the means to cover this vast expenditure, Revolt in the Desert was published by Cape on 10th March 1927, in two versions - a large paper edition of 315 copies, of which 300 were for sale at 5 guineas [£5.25], [publication of 800 had been authorised according to History], and a trade edition at 30 shillings [£1.50]. Both were illustrated, but the limited edition included 10 of the colour plates which had appeared in SP. Doran published in America at the same time - a limited edition of 250 plus the trade edition.

Lawrence received his copy of the Cape de luxe version of Revolt in Karachi, and wrote to Wren Howard, thanking him for the book, and making various observations on the production, one comment being that the typeface was 'too slight for its interstices', although his beloved Caslon had been used. He was to ask for one amendment to be made in subsequent reprints - the footnote on Churchill's 1921 peace settlement which appeared in the subscribers' edition was reinstated in the abridgement, Lawrence having left it out 'by accident'.

Revolt was an immediate success - Lawrence described it as 'selling like ripe apples' (1) - both in England and in America, where the sensation over the 20,000 dollar edition of SP had provided some first-rate publicity. Cape recorded a 150% increase in sales that year. Their net profits rose from a usual level of some £2,000 to nearly £28,000, much to the excitement of the taxman who became very interested in the suddenness of their good fortune, and they were able to build a five-room extension over the back garden of 30 Bedford Square, where they had moved from the original offices at 11 Gower Street in January 1925. Shortly before his death, Wren Howard was to acknowledge the debt Capes owed to Lawrence - 'Always from the very beginning, Lawrence was the key to our success.'

Revolt enjoyed a short but glorious life in the bookshops. Thirty thousand copies were enough to cover the costs of the subscribers' edition, and, in June, Buxton was able to write informing Lawrence that the trustees of the Revolt in the Desert fund intended to exercise his contractual right to withdraw the book from publication. Lawrence wrote to Raymond Savage 'That goose had laid its clutch, complete. My overdraft incurred for the "Seven Pillars" is fairly paid off, and there is neither rhyme nor reason in continuing to make unwanted money at the expense of my comfort and sense of decency. So I killed the thing without regret, on my own score.' (2) Even so, by the time this withdrawal had been effected, the book had gone into profit, and the American sales had still to be added to the total.

Surplus royalties, amounting to around £20,000, were used to establish a trust with the RAF Benevolent Fund. Named the Anonymous Educational Fund, its income financed the education of the children of disabled or deceased officers. Lawrence's aim was to supplement the work of the Benevolent Fund in this area, which covered all ranks and branches of the service, for, since flying was mostly carried out by officers, casualties at this level were disproportionately high. By 1935, the year of his death, Lawrence's trust fund had paid out over £4,000 towards school fees, and in that year was educating thirteen children. The trust was renamed the Lawrence of Arabia Educational Fund after his death, and it continues its work to this day.

1	L 304, Mrs Thomas Hardy, 5.V.27
2	Letter to Raymond Savage, undated, written 'expressly for publication', and published by Savage in an undated [1935] advertising leaflet

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The writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom - full listing