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''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' is the
autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
account of the experiences of
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), of serving as a
military advisor Military advisors, or combat advisors, advise on military matters. Some are soldiers sent to foreign countries to aid such countries with their military training, organization, and other various military tasks. The Foreign powers or organizations ...
to
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...
forces during the
Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...
against the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
of 1916 to 1918. It was completed in February 1922, but first published in December 1926.


Title and dedication

The title comes from the
Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on differen ...
; "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" () (
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...
). Before the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Lawrence had begun work on a scholarly book about seven great cities of the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, to be called ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom''. It was incomplete when war broke out and Lawrence stated that he destroyed the manuscript. He used his original title for the later work. The book had to be rewritten three times, once following the loss of the manuscript on a train at
Reading railway station Reading railway station is a major transport hub in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town centre, near the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames, from . Reading is the ninth-busiest station in t ...
. From ''Seven Pillars'', "... and then lost all but the Introduction and drafts of Books 9 and 10 at Reading Station, while changing trains. This was about Christmas, 1919." (p. 21) ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' is an autobiographical account of his experiences during the
Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...
of 1916–1918, when Lawrence was based in
Wadi Rum Wadi Rum ( ar, وادي رم ''Wādī Ramm'', also ''Wādī al-Ramm''), known also as the Valley of the Moon ( ar, وادي القمر ''Wādī al-Qamar''), is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan, about to the east ...
in
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
as a member of the British Forces. With the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, he helped organise and carry out attacks on the Ottoman forces from
Aqaba Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...
in the south to
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
in the north. Many sites inside the Wadi Rum area have been named after Lawrence to attract tourists, although there is little or no evidence connecting him to any of these places, including the rock formations near the entrance now known as "The Seven Pillars". Speculation surrounds the book's dedication, a poem written by Lawrence and edited by
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
, concerning whether it is to an individual or to the whole Arab race. It begins, "To S.A.", possibly meaning Selim Ahmed, a young Arab boy from Syria of whom Lawrence was very fond. Ahmed died, probably from typhus, aged 19, a few weeks before the offensive to liberate Damascus. Lawrence received the news of his death some days before he entered Damascus. A variant last line of that first stanza—reading, "When we came"—appears in some editions; however, the 1922 Oxford text (considered the definitive version; see below) has "When I came". The poem originated as prose, submitted by letter to Graves, who edited the work heavily into its current form, rewriting an entire stanza and adjusting the others.


Manuscripts and editions

Lawrence kept extensive notes throughout the course of his involvement in the Revolt. He began work on a clean narrative in the first half of 1919 while in Paris for the Peace Conference and, later that summer, while back in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. By December 1919, he had a fair draft of most of the ten books that make up the ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' but lost it (except for the introduction and final two books) when he misplaced his briefcase while changing trains at
Reading railway station Reading railway station is a major transport hub in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town centre, near the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames, from . Reading is the ninth-busiest station in t ...
. National newspapers alerted the public to the loss of the "hero's manuscript", but the draft was not recovered. Lawrence refers to this version as "Text I" and says that had it been published, it would have been some 250,000 words in length. In early 1920, Lawrence set about the daunting task of rewriting as much as he could remember of the first version. Working from memory alone (he had destroyed many of his wartime notes upon completion of the corresponding parts of Text I), he was able to complete this "Text II", 400,000 words long, in three months. Lawrence described this version as "hopelessly bad" in literary terms, but historically it was "substantially complete and accurate". This manuscript, titled by Lawrence ''The Arab Revolt'', is held by the
Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
of the University of Texas with a letter from Lawrence's brother authenticating it as the earliest surviving manuscript of what would become ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom''. With Text II in front of him, Lawrence began working on a polished version ("Text III") in London,
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
, and
Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...
during 1921. Lawrence completed this text comprising 335,000 words in February 1922. To eliminate any risk of losing the manuscript again, and to have copies that he could show privately to critics, he considered having the book typed out. However, he discovered that it would be cheaper to get the text typeset and printed on a proofing press at the ''
Oxford Times Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
'' printing works. Just eight copies were produced, of which six survive. In bibliographical terms the result was the first "edition" of ''Seven Pillars'' (because the text was reproduced on a printing press). In legal terms, however, these substitutes for a typescript were not "published". Lawrence retained ownership of all the copies and chose who was allowed to read them. The proof-printing became known as the "Oxford Text" of ''Seven Pillars''. As a text it is unsatisfactory because Lawrence could not afford to have the proof corrected. It therefore contains innumerable transcription errors, and in places lines and even whole paragraphs are missing. He made corrections by hand in five of the copies and had them bound. (In 2001, the last time one of these rough printings came on to the market, it fetched almost US$1 million at auction.) Instead of burning the manuscript, Lawrence presented it to the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...
in Oxford. By mid-1922, Lawrence was in a state of severe mental turmoil: the psychological after-effects of war were taking their toll, as were his exhaustion from the literary endeavours of the past three years, his disillusionment with the settlement given to his Arab comrades-in-arms, and the burdens of being in the public eye as a perceived "national hero". It was at this time that he re-enlisted in the armed forces under an assumed name, for the most part in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
, as described in his book ''The Mint'' with the byline "by 352087 A/c Ross", with a period in the
Royal Tank Corps The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...
as "Private Shaw". Concerned over his mental state and eager for his story to be read by a wider public, his friends persuaded him to produce an abridged version of ''Seven Pillars'', to serve as both intellectual stimulation and a source of much-needed income. In his off-duty evenings, he set to trimming the 1922 text down to 250,000 words for a
subscriber The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
s' edition. In 2022, almost a hundred years after the publication of the book, the missing part of the first book emerged, in which Lawrence expresses in a heartfelt tone his feeling of shame at how the revolt was betrayed by the colonial powers (France and United Kingdom) with the secret Sykes-Picot agreement for the partition of the Middle East. An extremely rare copy of the original manuscript, which includes the missing chapter, was auctioned in England at the starting price of £ 65,000 for the first time. With Lawrence's words: " hat wasan Arab war waged and led by Arabs for an Arab aim in Arabia … a new nation, to restore a lost influence nd buildan inspired dream palace of their national thoughts". The Subscribers' Edition—in a limited print run of about 200 copies, each with a unique, sumptuous, hand-crafted binding—was published in late 1926, with the subtitle ''A Triumph''. It was printed in London by Roy Manning Pike and Herbert John Hodgson, with illustrations by
Eric Kennington Eric Henri Kennington (12 March 1888 – 13 April 1960) was an English sculptor, artist and illustrator, and an official war artist in both World Wars. As a war artist, Kennington specialised in depictions of the daily hardships endured by s ...
,
Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...
, Paul Nash,
Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Wood ...
and his wife
Gertrude Hermes Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes (18 August 1901 – 9 May 1983) was a British wood-engraver and sculptor. Hermes was a member of the English Wood Engraving Society (1925–31) and exhibited with the Society of Wood Engravers, the Royal Academy and ...
. Copies occasionally become available in the antiquarian trade and can easily command prices of up to US$100,000. Unfortunately, each copy cost Lawrence three times the thirty
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
the subscribers had paid. The Subscribers' Edition was 25% shorter than the Oxford Text, but Lawrence did not abridge uniformly. The deletions from the early books are much less drastic than those of the later ones: for example, Book I lost 17% of its words and Book IV lost 21%, compared to 50% and 32% for Books VIII and IX. Critics differed in their opinions of the two editions:
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
,
E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...
, and
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
preferred the 1922 text, although, from a legal standpoint, they appreciated the removal of certain passages that could have been considered libellous (or at least indiscreet), while Edward Garnett preferred the 1926 version. Literary merits aside, however, producing the Subscribers' Edition had left Lawrence facing bankruptcy. He was forced to undertake an even more stringent pruning to produce a version for sale to the general public: this was the 1927 ''Revolt in the Desert,'' a work of some 130,000 words: "An abridgement of an abridgement", remarked Shaw, not without disdain. Nevertheless, it received wide acclaim by the public and critics alike, the vast majority of whom had never seen or read the less-abridged Subscribers' Edition. After the 1926 release of the Subscribers' Edition, Lawrence stated that no further issue of ''Seven Pillars'' would be made during his lifetime. Lawrence was killed in a motorcycle accident in May 1935, at age 46; within weeks of his death, the 1926 abridgement, as well as the first unabridged US edition by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., were released to the general public. The Doubleday edition was first released in a limited run of 750 copies, with a standard run released afterward. An unabridged edition would not be published again until 1997, when the unabridged Oxford Text of 1922 appeared as a "best text" edited by
Jeremy Wilson Jeremy Michael Wilson (1944 – 2 April 2017) was a British historian, biographer, writer, editor, and fine-press publisher. He was also a business copywriter and editor working for major corporations. Biography Wilson was born in Cambridge ...
from the manuscript in the Bodleian Library, alongside Lawrence's amended copy of the 1922 proof printing. Wilson made some further minor amendments in a new edition published in 2003.


Critical comments

Charles Hill has called ''Seven Pillars'' "a novel traveling under the cover of autobiography", capturing Lawrence's highly personal version of the historical events described in the book. An advertisement for the 1935 edition quotes
Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
as saying "It ranks with the greatest books ever written in the English language. As a narrative of war and adventure it is unsurpassable."


In popular culture

The book was adapted into the film ''
Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
'' (1962). "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is a song by heavy metal group
Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes ...
about Lawrence, released in July 2019 on the album ''The Great War''. In Tony Parsons’ novel, ''The Murder Bag'' (2014), the ''Seven Pillars'' is referenced as part of the curriculum at Potters Field school and has a formative influence on a group of former pupils.


Editions in print

* * * * publ. date inferred from . *


Explanatory notes


Citations


General and cited sources

* * * *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Pillars Of Wisdom 1922 non-fiction books 1926 non-fiction books 1927 non-fiction books Autobiographies adapted into films Books about the Middle East Books about the Ottoman Empire British autobiographies British non-fiction literature English-language books History books about World War I Military autobiographies Personal accounts of World War I T. E. Lawrence