T.E. Lawrence. Edited by A.W. Lawrence. First American edition, first printing. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1940. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. In the publisher's dust jacket, $3.00 retail price on front flap, light soiling to covers. There is a red stain on top, front of jacket with typical age and foxing, overwise still in nice shape with retained color. Hardcover has no writing or markings found inside, 291 pp. Contains 129 black/white photo plates and maps from the author.
Oriental Assembly contains all the hitherto uncollected writings by Lawrence about the Middle East, including the first publication for the general public of the suppressed introductory chapter of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The work also includes the 57 page diary Lawrence (in his early 20's) kept during a journey in Northern Syria in 1911 to study and photograph the Crusaders' castles and collection of antiquities. There are also two of his newspaper articles, and the preface to the Leicester Gallery.
Edited by A.W. Lawrence, the author's brother, with the suppressed introductory chapter to The Seven Pillars of Wisdom included alongside "The Changing East" a Lawrence essay that was later expanded into chapter 33 of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
