Lot 209
209
LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). A Letter from T.E. Lawrence to his Mother. [London]: The Corvinus Press 'for Mrs Lawrence', 1936. 4° (287 x 234mm). Initial printed in red. 3 collotype plates after Lawrence printed by the Oxford University Press, retaining tissue guards. Original light brown buckram-backed boards [probably by Sangorski & Sutcliffe], top edge gilt, others uncut, original card slipcase, inscribed by Viscount Carlow 'These books were printed for Mrs Lawrence and are not in general circulation. Carlow' and further inscribed by him 'Medway Copy' (slipcase lightly faded on outer areas). Provenance: Sarah Lawrence (1861-1959, who received copies 2-23 of the 24 numbered copies) -- Bertram Rota, London (loosely-inserted letter offering the volume and letter below to Lionel Dakers). FIRST EDITION. LIMITED TO 30 COPIES, THIS NUMBER 19 OF 12 PRINTED ON MEDWAY AND SIGNED BY CARLOW ON THE COLOPHON. Nash and Flavell 4; O'Brien A192.
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium. THE T.E. LAWRENCE COLLECTION OF DR LIONEL DAKERS CBE (1924-2003) Dakers, by profession an organ master and church musician, successively held the positions of Assistant Organist, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (1950-1954), Organist, Ripon Cathedral (1954-1957), Organist and Master of the Choristers, Exeter Cathedral (1957-1972), and Director of The Royal School of Church Music (1972-1989). In tandem with his distinguished career as a leading authority on ecclesiastical music, Dakers was a discriminating and informed collector who assembled an extensive library over more than fifty years. One of the most remarkable components of Dakers' library is the T.E. Lawrence collection, which contains books, manuscripts, and artefacts of the celebrated soldier, traveller, and writer, spanning his life from the early archaeological work of the pre-World War I years, through the Arab Revolt and the writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, to his post-war life as a writer, translator of the Odyssey, and marine engineer. One of the most evocative artefacts of Lawrence is an Arab agal (a circlet to secure a keffiyeh upon the head, illustrated above left, lot 217), which was given by him to his friend Mrs Clare Sydney Smith who bequeathed it to her daughter, from whom Dakers acquired it; such remarkable artefacts are rare, and this agal was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery's landmark T.E. Lawrence centenary exhibition in 1988. Dating from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 is a pencil sketch of Lawrence by Augustus John, of whose portraits Lawrence said, 'Do you realise that posterity will call me beautiful, on the strength of those two John pencil sketches so artfully published by me in my books?' (see illustration above right for one of these). Dakers' sketch was reproduced on the cover of Hugh Walpole's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. T.E. Lawrence in Life and Death, first published in its entirety in 1985 from the manuscript in his collection (lots 218 and 245). Books representative of Lawrence's early years are Lawrence's Letter to his Mother, one of thirty copies printed privately for her by Viscount Carlow's Corvinus Press, which contains Sarah Lawrence's letter to Carlow, thanking him for 'a perfectly lovely book' (lot 209) and Lawrence's youthful translation of Two Arabic Folk Tales (one of 31 copies, lot 214). Lawrence's role in The Arab Revolt is documented in a 'Subscriber's' copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which is flanked by some twelve lots showing the book's evolution from the sheets of the 'Oxford' edition of 1922, through a copy of the prospectus The Foundations of Arab Revolt (from the library of Sir Herbert Baker, who lent Lawrence the flat in which much of Seven Pillars of Wisdom was written), to such rarities as An Album of Illustrations to ..." Seven Pillars of Wisdom" (one of 12 copies, in the original binding) and the representatives' sample of Revolt in the Desert, only the second we can trace at auction since 1975 (lots 219-232). Amongst the pieces recording the last ten years of Lawrence's life, two particularly stand out: a presentation copy from Viscount Carlow of the Corvinus Press edition of Letters from Lawrence to Carlow, limited to seventeen copies and one of the rarest books of the press (lot 240) and a press agency typescript of Sir Ronald Storrs's eulogy to Lawrence, inscribed by Storrs the day after he gave the speech (lot 246). The lots below are arranged chronologically by date of writing, and not of publication. Two further portions of the Lionel Dakers collection will be offered at Christie's South Kensington: the modern first editions and literary manuscripts (including works by Siegfried Sassoon) in the sale of Modern First Editions on 1 November 2006 and the private press books and fine printing in the sale of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts on 29 November 2006.
LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). A Letter from T.E. Lawrence to his Mother. [London]: The Corvinus Press 'for Mrs Lawrence', 1936. 4° (287 x 234mm). Initial printed in red. 3 collotype plates after Lawrence printed by the Oxford University Press, retaining tissue guards. Original light brown buckram-backed boards [probably by Sangorski & Sutcliffe], top edge gilt, others uncut, original card slipcase, inscribed by Viscount Carlow 'These books were printed for Mrs Lawrence and are not in general circulation. Carlow' and further inscribed by him 'Medway Copy' (slipcase lightly faded on outer areas). Provenance: Sarah Lawrence (1861-1959, who received copies 2-23 of the 24 numbered copies) -- Bertram Rota, London (loosely-inserted letter offering the volume and letter below to Lionel Dakers). FIRST EDITION. LIMITED TO 30 COPIES, THIS NUMBER 19 OF 12 PRINTED ON MEDWAY AND SIGNED BY CARLOW ON THE COLOPHON. Nash and Flavell 4; O'Brien A192.

Details
LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935). A Letter from T.E. Lawrence to his Mother. [London]: The Corvinus Press 'for Mrs Lawrence', 1936. 4° (287 x 234mm). Initial printed in red. 3 collotype plates after Lawrence printed by the Oxford University Press, retaining tissue guards. Original light brown buckram-backed boards [probably by Sangorski & Sutcliffe], top edge gilt, others uncut, original card slipcase, inscribed by Viscount Carlow 'These books were printed for Mrs Lawrence and are not in general circulation. Carlow' and further inscribed by him 'Medway Copy' (slipcase lightly faded on outer areas). Provenance: Sarah Lawrence (1861-1959, who received copies 2-23 of the 24 numbered copies) -- Bertram Rota, London (loosely-inserted letter offering the volume and letter below to Lionel Dakers). FIRST EDITION. LIMITED TO 30 COPIES, THIS NUMBER 19 OF 12 PRINTED ON MEDWAY AND SIGNED BY CARLOW ON THE COLOPHON. Nash and Flavell 4; O'Brien A192.

Sarah LAWRENCE (1861-1959). Autograph letter signed ('S. Lawrence') to Viscount Carlow, The Lacket, Lockeridge, Marlborough, 2 July [1937], 2 pages, 8°.

A VERY FINE COPY OF A LETTER WITH SARAH LAWRENCE'S LETTER OF THANKS TO THE PRINTER. A Letter (written on 28 August 1908) describes Lawrence's response to Chartres cathedral, and was thought by David Garnett to be 'the most beautiful and emotional of his early letters' (M. Brown (ed.) The Letters of T.E. Lawrence, London: 1988, p.16). The book was printed for T.E. Lawrence's mother, Sarah Lawrence, in an edition of 24 copies by Viscount Carlow; copy no. 1 was retained by Carlow, no. 24 was given to G.B. and Charlotte Shaw, and copies 2-23 were sent to Sarah Lawrence (Carlow printed a further 6 copies for himself, lettered A-F, which did not include the plates). The letter from Sarah Lawrence (which is quoted in part by Nash and Flavell), thanks Carlow for her copies of A Letter, and praises the production of the book: 'What a perfectly lovely book you have made ... This is too beautiful ... Print & paper & the illustrations are all perfect ... How he [i.e. T.E. Lawrence] would have gloried in what you have done'. 4 of the 24 illustrated copies are in institutional collections (cf. Nash and Flavell). (2)
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