LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). Autograph annotations to press cuttings, chiefly reviews of Revolt in the Desert, some merely of a biographical nature, from European and North American newspapers (including German, Swedish, Czech and Italian papers), the cuttings dated 13 December 1926 - 2 April 1928, annotated in approximately 88 places by Lawrence (one signed with initials 'T.E.S.'), three cuttings annotated in the hand of Charlotte Shaw (one identified by Lawrence 'Note by Mrs G.B.S. who sent me all these reviews to India!'), pasted into the pages of aircraft service register 'Digest of Engine Troubles  R.A.F. 34S', reverse orientation, a few cuttings loose, cloth backed boards. Provenance: Siegfried Sassoon; and by descent.
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LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). Autograph annotations to press cuttings, chiefly reviews of Revolt in the Desert, some merely of a biographical nature, from European and North American newspapers (including German, Swedish, Czech and Italian papers), the cuttings dated 13 December 1926 - 2 April 1928, annotated in approximately 88 places by Lawrence (one signed with initials 'T.E.S.'), three cuttings annotated in the hand of Charlotte Shaw (one identified by Lawrence 'Note by Mrs G.B.S. who sent me all these reviews to India!'), pasted into the pages of aircraft service register 'Digest of Engine Troubles R.A.F. 34S', reverse orientation, a few cuttings loose, cloth backed boards. Provenance: Siegfried Sassoon; and by descent.

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LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). Autograph annotations to press cuttings, chiefly reviews of Revolt in the Desert, some merely of a biographical nature, from European and North American newspapers (including German, Swedish, Czech and Italian papers), the cuttings dated 13 December 1926 - 2 April 1928, annotated in approximately 88 places by Lawrence (one signed with initials 'T.E.S.'), three cuttings annotated in the hand of Charlotte Shaw (one identified by Lawrence 'Note by Mrs G.B.S. who sent me all these reviews to India!'), pasted into the pages of aircraft service register 'Digest of Engine Troubles R.A.F. 34S', reverse orientation, a few cuttings loose, cloth backed boards. Provenance: Siegfried Sassoon; and by descent.

Lawrence's annotations range from the frequent use of exclamation marks and 'Ha ha', to corrections or additions of facts (sometimes ironic, as in 'This old dear was in command of the German detachments in Palestine' of one reviewer, Generalmajor von Frankenberg und Proschlitz) and exasperated outbursts, in particular distancing himself from the 'dream' of a united Arabia ('This dream I regard as a pernicious lunacy'; 'My Swedish translator began all this political rubbish by ascribing to me a wish to unite Arabia!'). He clearly takes considerable pleasure in one German reviewer's observation that 'there are a great number of Germany war memoirs which are better written, more concise and consequential and -- more honest', noting 'Good for Germany!'; by L.H.R. Pope-Hennessy's observation that he is possessed of 'an unconscious self-confidence so overweening as to be an elemental force' he annotates 'This is very shrewd!'. Some annotations give an insight into Lawrence's views of the contemporary Arab situation, which he regards as 'reasonably stabilised by the Winston [Churchill] settlement of 1921-22'.

The dates of the cuttings place the compilation of the album during Lawrence's time in Karachi -- his annotation indicates that it was Charlotte Shaw who sent them to him. The public and informative nature of many of the annotations indicates that they were intended for the eyes of a friend -- perhaps Siegfried Sassoon, from whose library the volume comes.
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