Genius of Friendship 'T.E. Lawrence'
London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1941. Tall octavo, golden-orange cloth, spine embossed with gilt lettering, 78 pp. Spine ends and corners of covers bumped,top edges of covers very slightly bumped, tail ends near spine of endpapers bumped, binding spilt between leaves 48 and 49 but holding firm, fore-edges of text block untrimmed (edges deckled), fore-edges of several leaves uncut, edges of dust jacket a little worn, spine of dust-jacket a little faded; otherwise a very good copy with clean leaves. First edition, second impression. This slim volume tells of the meeting and ensuing friendship of two solitary writers, both exhausted from their experiences of World War One: T. E. Lawrence and Henry Williamson. In 1924, Henry Williamson was struck by the opening lines of Lawrence's Revolt in the Desert and felt that he and Lawrence were 'alike in seeing things'. However, it was not until four years later that the seeds of their friendship were truly sewn, when Lawrence offered detailed and valuable criticism of Williamson's manuscript of his first, and arguably best-known, work, Tarka the Otter. Their friendship blossomed, each showing great consideration to the other, but was sadly cut short by Lawrence's tragic death in May of 1935.
Henry Williamson went on to write A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight, an ambitious series in fifteen volumes loosely based upon his experiences in World War One and beyond. The volumes in the series were published between 1951 and 1969. O'Brien E146 (first edition), E146a (this edition). Item #4853
Price (AUD): $250.00