T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 533

LH 9/13/42 338171 A/c Shar R.A.F. Mount Batten Plymouth. 80. III. 38 Dear Isham I'm not ashamed at this mess making you feel sick; but it is too long a history to explain briefly. my version took years to complete and had to be done in England, not India, as I was sent home for political reasons. Lots of people saw me working at it (I did it in the open) and bits of news got into the Press, till finally the whole story (bringing even you into it) was printed in a New York paper and copied by the Press here. I then wrote to Emery Walker asking to be relieved of my contract. They refused this, saying the publicity was not their concern. No more than that. Walker's had been awfully good about the whole business. So I had to carry on doing a semi-public version, and to protect myself I made a new arrangement with B.R., (who had then taken over your interest, I understand) by which they should be no English edition at all (except the Emery Walker limited edition, which was not to be advertised or reviewed) but in which the U.S.A. commercial edition might carry my Shaw name, not on the title-page, but following the translator's note at its end. Then B.R. arranged with the New York Oxford Press to do the book; and they came to me with very strong pleas for an English edition, by the Oxford house, of a few copies of their New York printing to be sent to England for sale. They used ad ... appeals, on the ground that R. ... (whom I like and respect) was financially involved in the commercial edition, and stood to lose a lot if I restricted it.