T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 186

To: Dr. C.M. Doughty, All Souls Oxford. 7. 5. 20. Dear Mr. Doughty, After a great deal of writing Egypt have at last been able to make up their minds - of course wrongly. They say that the arrears due to the interference of the local troubles will take them two years to work off. After that they will be able to take on outside work again. I do not believe it, for I am sure that their local troubles are not nearly over. It is most unsatisfactory. There remain possibilities of America, and subscription. The younger poets are very anxious for the latter, since they all want Arabia Deserta, and cannot afford her (she now stands at £5/15/0. ?) but it would mean getting a very long list (at least a thousand copies, I think) and I do not know if this is possible. As for America, the book is unfortunately not commanding sale there. However if I may, I'll have another talk with Duckworth. There is so large and worthy a demand for the book that it seems shameful not to get it out again some- how. Then about a tame artist. That also has been difficult. John had to finish a lot of things for a show, to raise him- self money; then he went to hospital, for an operation, and now he's in France being made fit again. He is of course the great man: but meanwhile, would you allow Mr. W. Rothenstein to draw you ? He sounds German, but did very well in the war, and makes a special point of men of books. He knows Arabia Deserta, of course, and would very much like to make a drawing of you. It would take him about an hour and a half, and would not trouble you at all, and it would be a very pleasing and honest piece of work. Rothenstein is a quite safe draughtsman - not a genius, good and bad, like John. If you will allow him, it would give all of us a great deal of pleasure. I'm sorry about Cairo; but it only means finding another way: a nuisance. Yours sincerely, T.E. Lawrence