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CATALOGUE

Untitled 1

Works

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Complete 1922 Text
The Mint, 1928 text
The Mint, 1955 text

Translation

The Forest Giant

Letters

T. E. Lawrence Letters series
Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw
Correspondence with Henry Williamson
Correspondence with E. M. Forster and others
Letters from Carchemish

See complete catalogue

  Page updated
 12 November 2008

 

T. E. Lawrence, Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw

Edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson

T. E. Lawrence Letters, Volumes I-IV

  • Volume I: 1922-1926 (2000)
  • Volume II: 1927 (2003)
  • Volume III: 1928 (2008)
  • Volume IV: 1929-1935 (for publication date see News)

 

PROSPECTUS

It was not until his wife's death in 1943 that Bernard Shaw began to understand the extraordinary nature of her correspondence with T.E. Lawrence. She had preserved almost all the letters she had received – over 300, some very long – and had recovered several of those that she herself had written to Lawrence. In her engagement diary, she had used symbols to note the dates that she wrote to Lawrence or received letters from him. When Bernard Shaw read her letters he said: 'It takes a long time for two people to get to know each other, and from a diary I discovered lately, and some letters which she wrote to T. E. Lawrence, I realise that there were many parts of her character that even I did not know, for she poured out her soul to Lawrence.'

On Lawrence's side too, this was a remarkable friendship. Taken as a whole, the correspondence adds up to almost twice the total length of his letters to any other recipient. On their own, setting aside the other volumes in our T.E. Lawrence Letters series, the volumes of correspondence with the Shaws are the largest edition of Lawrence's letters since David Garnett's 900-page Letters of T. E. Lawrence.

Bernard Shaw gave Garnett free use of the letters he had received from Lawrence, but Charlotte refused to co-operate. The result, as we now know, was a glaring omission from the 1938 Letters, repaired to some extent in the selection edited more recently by Malcolm Brown. No general collection, however, could use more than a small fraction of the Lawrence-Shaw correspondence.

T.E.Lawrence Letters volumes

   Vols I, II and III of the four-volume set

Lawrence first met the Shaws by accident, in March 1922. Five months later he wrote diffidently to ask whether Bernard Shaw would be willing to criticise the 1922 text of Seven Pillars. Shaw agreed and Lawrence sent a copy. However, the first to read it, and with great enthusiasm, was Charlotte.

She was a wealthy woman in her own right, and her interest in Lawrence and his work soon led to a thriving correspondence. She offered to proof-read the subscription edition of Seven Pillars that he was preparing, and began to send parcels of books, gramophone records and other gifts. Over the years, Lawrence gave her presents in return, including several valuable manuscripts of his writings.

Lawrence's correspondence with the Shaws between 1922 and 1935 is, without question, the most significant series of his post-war letters to survive. It covers an extraordinary variety of topics and, for much of the time, the letters were so frequent that they provide something akin to a diary of his activities. They were used extensively as source material for the authorised biography.

The letters to Charlotte are accompanied by the few but important letters from her to Lawrence that he kept, and also by his correspondence with Bernard Shaw and other collateral material.

While editing the correspondence, Jeremy and Nicole Wilson have had the advantage of reference to the chronological research files assembled during work on the authorised biography. These have helped to provide material for full and informative notes.

The first of the Lawrence–Shaw volumes starts when Lawrence met the Shaws in 1922 and ends in December 1926. One of its principal themes is the revision and production of the subscribers' Seven Pillars. The second volume covers the first of Lawrence's two years in India, during which he sent long letters to Charlotte almost weekly, providing the fullest account that we have of this period that was a turning-point in his life. The third volume covers the second year in India, providing insights into the writing of The Mint, the beginning of work translating Homer's Odyssey, and the months he spent at a remote RAF station at Miranshah. The letters from 1929-25 make up the fourth volume, covering Lawrence's most productive years in the RAF.

We do not foresee a trade edition of the complete Lawrence-Shaw correspondence, but in accordance with our agreement with the charity that owns his copyrights we will publish a selection from the correspondence in a cheaper form.

T. E. Lawrence Letters series volumes

 

For the individual volumes see:


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