"Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T. E. Lawrence

This remarkable book by Lawrence (of Arabia), about his Arabian campaign, was envisaged by him to match in content & style, "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky, "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Nietzsche & "Moby Dick" by Melville, the three he considered the best books ever written.

It was printed in 1926 in a small, sumptuous edition of 212 copies, Lawrence controlling the paper, typeface, margins, binding & even the number of lines on the page. The illustrations were sprinkled a few in the text & the portraits & the most spectacular paintings & crayons in the end of the book, where they appear in a blinding rush of colour.

The best of the copies, bound in calfskin with gold tooling, was presented to Mrs. Bernard Shaw, & is now in the New York Public Library. Other copies have become collectors' items. Each page has 37 lines, begins with a new paragraph, & no paragraph ends less than half-way across a line. No words are divided at the end of a line.

By this book, he will be remembered as long as the English language is read.