Lot 47
Lawrence, T. E. (1888-1935), ‘Lawrence of Arabia’
Autograph letter signed to E. M. Forster
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
[Miranshah, Waziristan], 14th August 1928. ‘It is one of my sins. Lucas offered me his Webster. I wrote and said yes, greedily; it came: sumptuously printed, and in a very beautiful red binding: a superb book […] I can only read by daylight, and all the daylight goes in RAF work […] He has been lucky in finding a writer who takes his standpoint, and sums up life rather in his fashion […] There is such a thing as doing too well, and getting just accepted as an act of God. A little less, and everyone would have dared to thank him for his labour. As it is ….. ?’, single sheet of foolscap paper, 33 x 20cm, written on one side only, addressed ‘Dear E. M. F.’, signed ‘T. E. S.’ (i.e. Thomas Edward Shaw), old folds, small split to foot of central fold
Footnote
A superb letter showing Lawrence in the complicated bipartite character which he assumed in the wake of his epic wartime exploits: at once the humble RAF ranker ‘T. E. Shaw’ and the fêted author equal to corresponding with the leading lights of the English literary establishment. F. L. ('Peter') Lucas's edition of the plays of John Webster was published in 1927 to widespread acclaim and marked the beginning of Lucas’s most productive period as a writer. Lawrence and Lucas had first met in Forster's rooms at King's College, Cambridge, in 1925, Lawrence being sufficiently impressed to allow Lucas to read the Oxford text of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Published: T. E. Lawrence, Correspondence with E. M. Forster and F. L. Lucas, edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson (Fordingbridge: Castle Hill Press, 2010), pp. 132-3.