T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 564

COPY. 338171 A/C Shaw R.A.F. Mont Bair Plymouth. 27 - VII - 32. Dear Isham, I'm not astonished 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, India, as I was sent home, for politicial reasons. Lots of people saw me working at it (I did it in the hut, you see) and bits of news crept out into the Press, till finally the whole story (brining 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 it was. Walker's have 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 arrangemen� with B.R., (who had then taken over your interest) by which there should be no English edition at all (except the Emery Walker limited edition, which was not to be advertised or revised) but in which the U.S.A. commerial 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 Press here; or for sheets of their New York printing to be sent to England for sale. They used ad misericordiam appeals, on the ground that B.R. (whom I like and respect) was financially involved in the commercial edition, and stood to lose a lot if I restricted it. I thought it over and saw clearly that my interest was limited to England only. It is here I have to live. What happened in U.S.A. or our Empire did not concern me. So I told Cumberledge (who runs the New York Oxford Press) that he could do what he pleased with his edition in the States and in places like Australia, so long as he left the English market utterly alone. The ballyhoo of which you have sent me a sample is his idea of the best - offensive as it is to you who live in America: to me it is harmless. Our booksellers and papers are stubbornly national, and not a whisper of New York publicity will be repeated here.