Seven Pillars Of Wisdom - A Triumph.

Jonathon Cape. London. 1955. 8vo XVI 700pp. Hardcover contemporary rebind with quarter brown morocco on yellow-orange cloth with five raised bands on spine and gilt lettering on green in segments two and four with date 1955 also on spine in gilt. In absolute pristine condition as is its sister volume (Lawrence and the Arabs - 1927), text in fine condition with beautiful unmarked endpapers and a small bookplate of prior owner Michael Matantos on the front pastedown as well as is his handwritten name on a front blank page and there is only minimal page yellowing. This is to be sold with its sister volume by Graves as a pair of uniform bindings. It is a very famous autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T.E Lawrence, whilst serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire of 1916 to 1918. It was completed in 1922 to be published in 1926. The title comes from the Book of Proverbs as Lawrence had already begun a scholarly book about seven great cities of the Middle East that was incomplete when war broke out and he destroyed the manuscript. This Seven Pillars book had to be rewritten three times with the loss of the original manuscript in his briefcase on a railway station amazingly. The final publication details are a lengthy and convoluted story. There are fourteen interesting illustrations and four maps included throughout and both books are an absolute testimony to the bookbinder's art.