ALS, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, All Souls College, Oxford, letterhead, September 18, 1920. Letter to Miss Baird in London. In full: “I regret the delay in answering your letter but I gave instructions that letters were not to be forwarded to me from All Souls. This will give you the measure of the accuracy of the article in ‘John of London.’ Mr. Lowell Thomas is responsible for the ‘Facts’ in it, and the less exact they are, the more they please me. Incidentally I can neither read nor write Arabic. I don’t think it is worth your while puzzling yourself over Moslem services. It is a religion of the Desert, incomprehensible outside it. May I implore you not to put my autograph close to that of Mr. G. K. Chesterton.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Lawrence’s hand.
Also accompanied by a one-page TLS from Lowell Thomas on personal letterhead, June 11, 1975, in part: “Many thanks for…sending me a copy of the letter from Oxford. How did you happen to get it? I see it is addressed ‘Dear Madam.’ As you know a stream of books about Lawrence descended upon us in the past thirty years. How many of them have been accurate, I don’t know. But most of it has been pure speculation…I had found him a grand person in every way. In 1967 Doubleday brought out a revised edition of my Lawrence of Arabia…In this edition I reply to those who have attempted to belittle Lawrence, saying he was a homosexual and so on—all of which was untrue…As for the reference to John-of-London, I’m sure this referred to a publication and not to an individual.”
With the permission of the British Foreign Office as an accredited war correspondent, Thomas journeyed to Jerusalem during the Arab revolt of Ottoman Turkish rule and followed Lawrence for a few weeks while taking photographs and recording film footage. Upon returning to Great Britain, Thomas compiled the material into a film called With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia. He toured the world narrating this dramatic footage and the show became wildly popular, making Thomas rich and Lawrence a household name. The instant fame did not sit well with the officer, who never forgave Thomas for exploiting his image. For his part, Thomas genuinely admired Lawrence and continued to defend him against attacks on his reputation. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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