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A Photoalbum of a 1926 copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom submitted by imgur user DanDowling

According to Dan, the above book is one of only 167 published during Lawrence’s lifetime and belonged to John Buchan, famous Scottish author, politician and close friend of Lawrence.

Dan also says that the book is worth $150,000 today.

The final picture is of a letter from Prime Minister Baldwin to John Bucan, 1926.  Dan transcribed it as:

"My dear Buchan, I should like to write to Lawrence: let me have his address. In the meantime accept my gratitude.  I am half way through the book.  With certain excisions I should like to see it in a cheap edition and an enormous circulation.  It is an amazing piece of work. (Intelligible) with to you. (Intelligible) yours, Stanley Baldwin"

From Dan’s research this is a response to a package/letter sent from Lawrence to Buchan in early December 1926, where Lawrence asks Buchan to gift Baldwin a copy of The Seven Pillars as a gesture of thanks for the Prime Minister's help in getting Lawrence accepted into he Royal Air Force.

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T.E. Lawrence’s rifle, a British short magazine Lee Enfield SMLE 3.

The rifle was presented to Lawrence by Prince Feisal. Lawrence used it for the rest of the war and later presented it to King George V.

His initials are carved on the side along with the date 4.12.16.

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A 1928 magazine article about T.E. Lawrence.

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Lawrence of Arabia, WWI hand-drawn map, 1917

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T. E. Lawrence to Lionel Curtis Mount Batten, Plymouth.

8.1.30

‘10 St. James Square will always find us.’ Good. I have been meaning to write to you for months. ‘You’ is good. Which? Don’t ask me.

F/Lt Smetham sent me from Kohat in India to photographs of myself: one life-size (about): the other more of a white man’s burden. These, he said, were for you and All Souls. Fortunately, I played buffer state between him and outraged Oxford Society: (photograph in the college! Lord!!!) and stuffed them into a bag in Barton Street. Not but what they were beautiful photographs: T.E.S. against a Waziri desert, softly lit, nursing his excessive chin with one bent arm.

An American lady, Mrs [name omitted] of Euclid Avenue Ohio, wrote to me last week, (via the War Department, London) 'You are my ideal of a real he-man’. The letter had been opened in Air Ministry. I hope they take it to heart. That’s the dope they want in the R.A.F.

In October, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, I burgled your house. Ralph was kind to me, and let me out. We found a title deed to some land of mine in Epping Forest, and sent it to the Chingford Urban District Council, whom the Forest Commissioners are bullying into buying it. The house was a wilderness of bricks: and not itself therefore. I suggested to R. that perhaps Mr. Curtis was building an Empire: but he said it was an enlarged study. That is like the Admiralty, whose staff grows as a Navy shrinks.

In a few days you go to the USA. Excellent. Do not hesitate to go from them, too. If you see Ivy Lee, will you give him my regards? He sends me papers sometimes: and I cannot retaliate. If I were you, I’d dash him an interleaved few chapters about the Jewish Constitution and settle him for good.

I spend innocent days, R.A.F.ing: an all-night study to turn Homer into English. Why? Why for money, of course. I am broke at present.

Will you (Sing. Fem) ask You (Sing. Masc) to get the Rockefeller Institute to dash me a million dollars (less would be an infra dignitatem as O'Casey says: do try and see The Silver Tassie, his play, in New York. It is astounding) upon some pretext or other. Homer is so slow way of earning money.

No news. Since Nov. I have not been out of camp, except once a month, to get my hair cut. It blows: rains: hails: and we are all healthy and happy. May you be so too.

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“It is sad to see a young man’s fondest hopes and dreams shattered when the rose-coloured veil is plucked away and he sees the actions and feelings of men for what they are. But he still has the hope of replacing his old illusions with others, just as fleeting, but also just as sweet.” Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time

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“Notes by Charlotte Shaw on the Seven Pillars proofs.Note A,page 5,(REFERRING TO “I went up the Tigris with one hundred Devon Territorials,young clean fellows,full of the power of happiness and of making women and children glad” by TE Lawrence……Charlotte responds………..“Clean men.CLEAN is a very dangerous word.I remember you used it in one of your early letters to GBS.Do you really know,a fond,the sociology of on English Village? Believe an old woman it is very exceptionally only that men make women glad: do you know the war story:……….MRS A(just having received her week’s pension money)This ere War’s too good to larst,I says.Eighteen shillings a week,and no husband giving one at night.MY IT’S HEAVEN!”” TE Lawrence Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw edited by Jeremy Wilson

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~“Lawrence’s attraction to medieval romanticism has other, more personal psychological determinants. He was beginning to develop within himself a heroic ego ideal which he could counterpose to the threat to his self-regard that the childhood discoveries concerning his parents’ situation had  brought about. The medieval romances suited him ideally. The world they depicted was one in which men of noble birth acted as proper heroes, were not drawn down in station by their ladies, and engaged in noble deeds on an epic scale, having been, like himself, chosen for this purpose in childhood.”~

(The Prince of Our Disorder; The Life of T.E. Lawrence)

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Interesting (if unsubstantiated) Tidbit about TE

I was googling some info about TE and came across this thread about his sexuality:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=255155

There cool thing is, one of the posters (Capt B. Phart) claims his father actually met TE and had this to say (I’ve bolded Capt B. Phart’s text for clarity):

“My dad Meet Lawrence briefly when he was transferred back to the RAF as an aircraftsman (not called Lawrence BTW), they shared an interest in motorbikes but seemingly differed on girls. Apparently there was only one girl Lawrence would let ride with him on his bike because she was the only one who didn't need to hold him tightly round the waist. Can't remember Dad's opinion on Lawrence's actual gayness (gaiety?) clearly; think it was that he was asexual - frightened of getting too close to anyone, male or female. But I do remember him using the phrase "Barking mad!" about him. I'll have to question dad a bit more closely when we next talk. Quote:Originally Posted by county: Well, his sleeping with young Arab boys is what gave rise to that whole "gay" rumor. No, I have no cite.

I'm guessing you're thinking of the film! (Lawrence didn't look much like O'Toole according to dad)”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any follow-up about this from the poster.  Granted, he could have made the whole thing up, but the details seemed to add up at least (RAF aircraftsman, not called Lawrence, common interest in motorbikes, doesn’t like being touched).  It’s a pity that there’s no way to get any confirmation!

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I was tagged by @crunkmouse for a book thing. Thank you! Rules 1. Grab the nearest book. 
2. Open the book to page 123. 
3. Find the fifth sentence. 
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions. 
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest. 
6. Tag 10 friends.

Well, I currently have a stack of books about Ned next to me so I’ll pick the one on top of the pile:

“We bore across this to the ghadir at Abu Zereibat, which we reached at 6 p.m.  It was little, if any smaller than it had been in January last.

12 March

Started at 3.45 a.m. and proceeded to lose the road in the dark.”

T.E. Lawrence in War and Peace: The Military Writings of Lawrence of Arabia An Anthology

Edited and Presented by Malcolm Brown

(Sidenote: ghadir means “pool”)

Last Song I Listened To:

“Memories (Someone We'll Never Know)” composed by Clint Mansell

As for who I’ll tag...hmmm...

I’m going to try to avoid tagging people who have already been tagged but if I double up, I apologize for piling on the requests!

I will tag:  @antennata  @el-orens  @berlynn-wohl  @ouphrontis @eyeonthenightsky  

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November 9, 2015 – Wadi Rum

In the middle of the summer of 2007 and perhaps at the hottest time of the year to visit Jordan, I travelled across the border from Israel into Jordan where I would travel by car from the southern border crossing at Eilat crossing back into Israel at Beit She’an, which is north of Jerash.

I was travelling with a good friend from Israel who had been my guide the year before together with a retired Jordanian Captain, whose name was Ali and who would guide us over a weeklong trip.

Our first stop, after walking across the border at Eilat, would be to drive to Wadi Rum which is also known as “The Valley of the Moon.”  The valley is cut into the sandstone and granite rock located about 60 km east of Aqaba and is the largest wadi in Jordan.  Today the area is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Center and has become an extremely popular place for tourists to visit.

For many people, the area is best known from the film “Lawrence of Arabia” starring the Academy Award winning actor, Peter O’Toole.  Based on the true story of the British officer, T.E. Lawrence, he crossed this area on several occasions during the Arab revolt of 1917-18.

For me, it was the first time I had ever spent any time in a large desert area which looked very different than the deserts  located in Southern California and resembled more like what I imagined a desert to be – an area filled with rolling sand dunes and planes filled with rippled sand formed by the power of the wind.  The temperature during the heat of the day could get well in excess of 110 degrees Fahrenheit but would cool down to a comfortable temperature in the evening.

We would spend the first night sleeping under the stars in the middle of the desert with no signs of civilization any where near us for miles.  In every direction that we looked, there was nothing but sand and occasionally some patches of green plants.  It is hard to imagine how people survived out  in this heat for long periods of time even with camels to take them from one place to the next.

On a clear night with no moon, the stars would light up the desert creating an image that one would expect to see in a planetarium or in a movie.  What was perhaps surprising to me was that despite being in the middle of nowhere the ability to get cell coverage and be able to receive emails on my blackberry (this was before I had my first iPhone!) seemed inconceivable.

Although I had a sleeping bag and a thin pad to sleep on, the hard rock below me did not make for the most comfortable night’s sleep but despite this, the memory of this trip and images of the desert are something that will remain with me forever.

You may ask what it is that prompted me to write today’s post given that my trip to Jordan took place more than 8 years ago.  Perhaps, in part, I have watched with great dismay the ongoing fighting that continues to exist in the Middle East with fighting  in some cases taking place over what is a relatively small peace of desert land in the middle of nowhere.    The fact that this land may on one level seem barren and uninhabitable raises the question of “who cares”. Having spent a period of time in Death Valley in the middle of the summer two years ago and having spent time in Jordan in the summer 8 years ago, there is a beauty that exists in this places which is hard to explain until you have spent time there.  There is a peace and calmness that exists in the desert at night when you look out for miles and miles in every direction and see nothing but sand and more sand.  There is a beauty in watching the sunset in the lateness of the afternoon and there is something breathtaking when you stare at a sky filled with stars that feel like you could reach out to them given how close they appear when there is no interference from the brightness of city lights.If you look more carefully, there is life that can be found in the desert.  Plant life grows.  Animals survive.

You can read in the book “Start Up Nation” how the Israelis were able to farm fish in salt water springs found in the middle of the desert. For each person they will see something different when they go to the desert. The expression that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” could not be a truer statement.  For each side of the conflict in the Middle East, even the barren desert has a special place in the hearts of each of the Israelis and Palestinians.   For them, it is a part of their own heritage that they want to hold on to with some individuals not wanting to give up a grain of sand even if to do so might, one day, lead to the possibility of peace.  Perhaps one day each side will see a different kind of beauty and one that allows both sides to exist together and this dream may become a reality.   One day!

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” T. E. Lawrence

(Photos taken in Wadi Rum – July 2007)

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Lawrence of Arabia (1962) directed by David Lean

Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence

Anthony Quayle as Colonel Harry Brighton

Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali

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T.E. Lawrence manga by Kousaka Tomoko Chapter 3 page 1

Translation by its222am

Chapter 3!

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“He had a sense of proportion and a sense of humor about everything except the insignificance of his body and his own attitude regarding it.He felt he had been fitted into an absurdly small case; a strange neurosis prevented him from enjoying the comedy of his own smallness…some of the apparently foolish things he did are attributable to his lack of self confidence and his fear of letting people down…in two letters of 1927 he wrote to me" Do you realize I have no confidence in myself"… He resented his body’s permanent immaturity.He did not,I think,realize that his personality also would not quite grow up…Man’s instinctive reactions have so degenerated,as now to be vastly inferior to those of other animals…Here I believe Lawrence had the advantage of being thousands of years behind us,but feeling powers within him which were uncommon and suspect,he feared their insistence.As they were too strong for suppression,the taught habits of logical thought made him at times doubt his sanity…one biographer made the statement that Lawrence never looked a man in the eye( this was Robert Graves who put in this passage at TE’s own insistence)now the thing I remember more than anything else about Lawrence is his directness of gaze.Others have remarked that he never took alcohol,but when we dined together he drank wine of various sorts freely…I think his unselfishness is too little recognized.To gain ends for others he would exhaust himself and be unscrupulous gladly,but where his own interests were concerned his sense of honor and fitness,and perhaps of unimportance,led him to complete self- neglect(and actual self-abuse)….” Ralph Isham…describing TE Lawrence in TE Lawrence by his Friends

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British soldiers resting in a sunken road in no-mans land during the Battle of the Somme, 1916.

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It’s 2 a.m. Moscow time but Tommy requires posting. 

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