T E Lawrence: Correspondence With the Political Elite 1922-1935

Fordingbridge: Castle Hill Press, 2015. Book. Fine. Hardcover. First Limited Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A fine new copy in the definitive edition of these letters from T.E. Lawrence to his political friends. Limited to just 427 numbered copies, this number 234. The correspondents (in alphabetical order) are Nancy Astor, Tory MP for Plymouth Sutton; John Buchan, writer and Unionist MP for the Combined Scottish Universities; Winston Churchill and his Private Secretary Edward Marsh; Lionel Curtis, Fellow of All Souls, editor of the Round Table, and one of the founding organisers of the Royal Institute of International Affairs; Geoffrey Dawson, Fellow of All Souls and Editor of The Times; Lord Lothian, Cabinet Minister, and Ernest Thurtle, the Labour MP for Shoreditch who was responsible, with Lawrence's help, for the abolition of the death penalty for cowardice in the British Army. There are strong contrasts here - for example between the light-hearted letters to Nancy Astor (reminiscent in tone to those he had written to E.T. Leeds before the war), and the deeply introspective letters to Lionel Curtis, which include some of the most revealing Lawrence wrote. Here are his letters to Winston Churchill, his former chief at the Colonial Office, together with less formal letters to Eddie Marsh. The letters to Ernest Thurtle hint at his experience manipulating the political machine. A handsome edition bound in quarter oatmeal cloth with grey paper covered boards, leather title label to spine. .