T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 233

LH 9/13/42 Karachi 27 - V - 27. Dear F.M.F. I hear from Palmer that he thinks the time is nearly right for selling his proofs of my Seven Pillars. Will you give him the benefit of your experience? I do not know if he realises that his copy is, in some ways, unique. It is the only copy in existence with the original chapter I, as revised from the Oxford Text. O.B.S. cut out this chapter in toto, a few weeks later, on the grounds that it was distinctly inferior to Chapter II, whose furious rush of words made (in his eyes) a much better beginning. That's as it may be: but as the single preserved variant Palmer's copy should make an appeal to a wealthy collector. His text is complete, in other respects: though it varies in two or three minor details from that finally approved for distribution to the subscribers. Yours ever, T.E. SHAW.