T. E. Lawrence once wrote that he expected to be remembered – if at all – as a man of letters rather than a man of action.
He wrote four books in his lifetime. Two were translations: The Forest Giant (1924), a work originally titled Le Gigantesque by Adrien Le Corbeau; and Homer’s Odyssey, published in 1932 in an edition of 530 copies.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Oxford Text, 1922), his account of his war experiences, remains a classic literary work, followed by the abridged version, Revolt in the Desert (1927).
The Mint, an account of his experiences as an enlisted man in the RAF, was posthumously published in a limited edition in 1955.
Graves was the recipient of Lawrence’s generosity. He was given four chapters of Seven Pillars of Wisdom to sell to publishers in America. He raised £200. One of Lawrence’s pseudonyms was T. E. Shaw.