LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF LAWRENCE OF ARABIA'S REVOLT IN THE DESERT, ONE OF ONLY 315 LARGE-PAPER COPIES

LAWRENCE, T.E. Revolt in the Desert. London: Jonathan Cape, 1927. Quarto, original half brown pigskin gilt, top edge gilt, uncut; original dust jacket. $6000.

Limited first edition, number 164 of only 315 large-paper copies, illustrated with 19 plates (11 in color) and a folding map. A very nice copy in the scarce original dust jacket.

Revolt in the Desert, Lawrence's own abridgment of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, achieved immediate popular success. "Lawrence had lavished the finest materials and spared no expense in publication of the 1926 Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In doing so costs for production of the book ballooned from his first estimate of £3000 to £13,000. In a letter of 26 March 1925 we find him contemplating selling first his library and then perhaps some of his property at Pole Hill, Chingford. He finally settled on an abridgment of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This was undertaken in 1926 by Lawrence himself… Three impressions were soon sold out and two more quickly followed in a period of four months" (O'Brien, A100). "The English edition was handsomely designed by G. Wren Howard and produced to a very high standard" (Wilson, T.E. Lawrence, 249). The unabridged trade edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom would not be published until 1935. Without very scarce and fragile original glassine wrapper. O'Brien, A101.

Interior clean, a bit of rubbing to spine ends only, book near-fine. Scarce original dust jacket spine toned and partially perished, reinforced on verso with paper and tape, front and rear panels and flaps clean and bright, very good.