Information Dump

A place to put all those little factoids that I find interesting.

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The Publications of T E Lawrence

Better known as Lawrence of Arabia and in later life as Aircraftsman T E Shaw.

Self Publication

Précis: Seven Pillars of Wisdom could be described as Self Published.

Lawrence's most famous publication, 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom' was Privately Published in a very high quality limited collectors edition. In modern terms that might be termed 'Self Published'.

The costs partly covered by subscriptions for the limited run of copies, but the cost to produce each copy was three times the price so Lawrence found himself in financial difficulties.

Copyright

Précis: The funds from Lawrence's books went primarily to the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Whilst many, if not most, of his works are now out of copyright those rights resided in a trust set up by Lawrence and later expanded by his heirs. Lawrence decided not to profit from his works as they were derived for events that cost many men their lives and transferred the rights to the trust once the cost of producing the original edition was paid off. His heirs created a similar trust and passed the right of his remaining works to it. the two trusts later merged.

The exception was the rights to one version of 'Seven Pillars' in the United States. Lawrence's heir sold these to cover the very large Inheritance Tax bill.

The money generated by the trusts went primarily to the RAF Benevolent Fund. Funds also went to sponsor the eduction of the children of RAF officers killed or injured as the result of service. A variety of other causes were supported, including archaeological and other academic projects.