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LAWRENCE, T.E. The Mint. Notes Made in the R.A.F. Depot Station between August and December 1922, and at Cadet College in 1925. By 352087 A/c Ross. Regrouped and Copied in 1927 and 1928 at Aircraft Depot, Karachi. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1936.
2o (282 x 195 mm). Original half vellum, blue paper-covered boards, black leather spine label lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut (front cover a trifle rubbed, small abrasion to vellum at foot of spine). Provenance: Arnold Walter Lawrence (1900-1991), T.E. Lawrence's younger brother and literary executor; given to Lt.-Col. Ralph H. Isham, C.B.E. (carbon of letter to A.W. Lawrence thanking him for the gift; sold Christie's New York, 17 May 1989, lot 115).
FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO ONLY 50 COPIES, PRINTED TO SECURE THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. The limitation statement at end reads: "...limited to 50 copies, of which 10 copies are for sale. This is number 9UK" (this number is written in black ink, probably by A.W. Lawrence). Inscribed by A.W. Lawrence in black ink on the copyright page: "The property of A.W. Lawrence, c/o Tamplin & Co., Solicitor, 52 Bishopsgate, London, E.C." Additionally inscribed by him in black ink on verso of the front free endpaper: "The property of A.W. Lawrence"; above and below this he has written at a later date (presumably at the time it was gifted to Isham) in blue ink: "This has ceased to [The property of] A.W.L."
O'Brien, pp. 143-144: "One of Lawrence's avowed purposes in joining the R.A.F., though not only one, was to write of the ranks from the inside. He began immediately making notes when he enlisted in 1922. With his dismissal from the R.A.F. in January 1923, because of unfavourable publicity, the project was set aside, not to be taken up again until he was posted to India in 1927...While in India he edited the text of his earlier notes and began revisions. In March 1928 he sent a clean copy of the revised text to Edward Garnett [who] had copies typed [and] circulated to a small circle, among them Air Marshall Trenchard. Cape wished to publish it and claimed the right under an agreement to have first right of refusal to Lawrence's next book after Revolt in the Desert. To forestall them Lawrence asked for an advance of £1,000,000, thus successfully preventing Cape from exercising their option. Trenchard's concerned response led Lawrence to guarantee that it would not be published at least until 1950. Later revisions were made by Lawrence in the last months of his life with a possible view to publication in a private edition on a handpress.
"The manuscript found its way to America and, in 1936, in order to control publication, it was found necessary to have a copyright edition published in the U.S.A. As with the earlier [American] copyright edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a prohibitive price was set to prevent sales, in this case $500,000 per copy...A sensational scoop occurred when the editor of The Saturday Review of Literature, Henry Seidel Canby, knowing that two copies had been sent to the Library of Congress [for copyright deposit purposes], visited that institution demanding to read the book, which right was ultimately granted him." (A clipping of Canby's review/article from The Saturday Review and other newsclippings about copies of The Mint in America accompany this copy.)
"The manuscript used for [this first] edition was not the last state of the text. A revised manuscript was found later and formed the basis for the text which was set in type by Cape in 1948 [and] only published in 1955...in 1973 a definitive edition, edited with a preface by J.M. Wilson, and including the objectionable words and names as they appeared in the manuscript, was published by Cape."
Ralph H. Isham, C.B.E., was an American born in 1890. he became a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1917, serving in France, and a Lieutenant-Colonel on the British Staff in 1918. He is perhaps best known for discovering and acquireing the James Boswell family papers from Malahide Castle in Ireland in the 1920s. The Boswell papers were published under his auspices during the years 1928-1937. Isham first met Lawrence in London in 1919 in the company of Sir Ronald Storrs. The two became good friends, socializing frequently. Isham returned to America in 1922 and fell out of touch with Lawrence until 1927, when, locating him in India, they had a correspondence which resulted in Lawrence's translation of the Odyssey (see lot 123). They met for the last time in London in March 1935 (two months before Lawrence''s death) when Isham tried to interest him in writing a biography of Mohammed. Isham's friendship with Lawrence is recounted by him in A.W. Lawrence, editor, T.E. Lawrence by His Friends (London, 1937), pp. 294-307. The carbon copy of a draft typed letter from Isham to A.W. Lawrence which accompanies this lot reads: "Dear Arnold, My Delight at having a copy of The Mint is inexpressible! [It] was a truly magnificent wedding present. Believe me, I am much touched by your kindness."
A FINE COPY OF THIS IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY RARE BOOK: only three copies (including this one in 1989) have appeared at auction in the past 25 years according to American Book Prices Current. Duval 34; O'Brien A166; Wilson 284.
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FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO ONLY 50 COPIES, PRINTED TO SECURE THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. The limitation statement at end reads: "...limited to 50 copies, of which 10 copies are for sale. This is number 9
O'Brien, pp. 143-144: "One of Lawrence's avowed purposes in joining the R.A.F., though not only one, was to write of the ranks from the inside. He began immediately making notes when he enlisted in 1922. With his dismissal from the R.A.F. in January 1923, because of unfavourable publicity, the project was set aside, not to be taken up again until he was posted to India in 1927...While in India he edited the text of his earlier notes and began revisions. In March 1928 he sent a clean copy of the revised text to Edward Garnett [who] had copies typed [and] circulated to a small circle, among them Air Marshall Trenchard. Cape wished to publish it and claimed the right under an agreement to have first right of refusal to Lawrence's next book after Revolt in the Desert. To forestall them Lawrence asked for an advance of £1,000,000, thus successfully preventing Cape from exercising their option. Trenchard's concerned response led Lawrence to guarantee that it would not be published at least until 1950. Later revisions were made by Lawrence in the last months of his life with a possible view to publication in a private edition on a handpress.
"The manuscript found its way to America and, in 1936, in order to control publication, it was found necessary to have a copyright edition published in the U.S.A. As with the earlier [American] copyright edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a prohibitive price was set to prevent sales, in this case $500,000 per copy...A sensational scoop occurred when the editor of The Saturday Review of Literature, Henry Seidel Canby, knowing that two copies had been sent to the Library of Congress [for copyright deposit purposes], visited that institution demanding to read the book, which right was ultimately granted him." (A clipping of Canby's review/article from The Saturday Review and other newsclippings about copies of The Mint in America accompany this copy.)
"The manuscript used for [this first] edition was not the last state of the text. A revised manuscript was found later and formed the basis for the text which was set in type by Cape in 1948 [and] only published in 1955...in 1973 a definitive edition, edited with a preface by J.M. Wilson, and including the objectionable words and names as they appeared in the manuscript, was published by Cape."
Ralph H. Isham, C.B.E., was an American born in 1890. he became a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1917, serving in France, and a Lieutenant-Colonel on the British Staff in 1918. He is perhaps best known for discovering and acquireing the James Boswell family papers from Malahide Castle in Ireland in the 1920s. The Boswell papers were published under his auspices during the years 1928-1937. Isham first met Lawrence in London in 1919 in the company of Sir Ronald Storrs. The two became good friends, socializing frequently. Isham returned to America in 1922 and fell out of touch with Lawrence until 1927, when, locating him in India, they had a correspondence which resulted in Lawrence's translation of the Odyssey (see lot 123). They met for the last time in London in March 1935 (two months before Lawrence''s death) when Isham tried to interest him in writing a biography of Mohammed. Isham's friendship with Lawrence is recounted by him in A.W. Lawrence, editor, T.E. Lawrence by His Friends (London, 1937), pp. 294-307. The carbon copy of a draft typed letter from Isham to A.W. Lawrence which accompanies this lot reads: "Dear Arnold, My Delight at having a copy of The Mint is inexpressible! [It] was a truly magnificent wedding present. Believe me, I am much touched by your kindness."
A FINE COPY OF THIS IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY RARE BOOK: only three copies (including this one in 1989) have appeared at auction in the past 25 years according to American Book Prices Current. Duval 34; O'Brien A166; Wilson 284.