T.E. Lawrence Studies

In November-December 1914 Lawrence compiled a book of route-guides covering northern Sinai. This was the area the Turkish army would have to cross to attack the Suez Canal - and also the area the British Army would have to cross to advance into Palestine.

The guidebook - nearly 200 pages long - has never been reprinted: 1914 route reports are hardly relevant today. However, a small printing is now to be issued as part of the ongong scholarly edition of Lawrence’s works and correspondence published by Castle Hill Press.

Until the end of July 2008 you can order copies at a substantial discount.

There is more information on the publisher’s website:

Prospectus | Specification | News and progress reports

In recent years I have seen several allegedly signed copies of Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert offered on eBay.

These are almost certainly forgeries, done by different people at different times. Some of the forgeries are very crude, but others are fairly passable.

Lawrence stated that he would never sign a copy of Revolt in the Desert. To my knowledge he did so only once, when he wrote a passage from Seven Pillars in the front of a copy of Revolt for his friend Charlotte Shaw (the wife of Bernard Shaw). That copy is now in the British Library. It is sometimes alleged that he also inscribed a copy for the South Waziristan Scouts, but the claim stemmed from a misleading photograph, which showed the note he sent with the book laid on to one of its front flyleaves.

If someone offers you a signed copy of Revolt in the Desert, it’s most unlikely to be genuine - however good it looks. To be credible, a signed Revolt would need a cast-iron end-to-end provenance.

Jeremy Wilson