Beschreibung:

LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward (1888-1935, translator). Two Arabic Folk Tales . [London]: The Corvinus Press, '1937' [1938]. 2° (331 x 234mm). Woodcut title illustrations after Eric Kennington Printed on rectos only. Original brown buckram gilt [by W.H. Smith], upper board lettered in gilt, lower board with central gilt press device, single gilt fillet borders, top edge gilt, others uncut, slipcase (spine slightly faded, slipcase a little browned and worn on joints and spine). Provenance : [sale, Sotheby's London, 19 July 1990, lot 180]. FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO 31 COPIES, THIS NUMBER 25 OF 30. The final leaf states that: 'These tales were written in ink at the beginning of the diary which the author kept while travelling in Northern Arabia during 1911. They were probably an Arabic exercise'. The diary referred to is now in the Houghton Library, Harvard, and was published as The Diary of T.E. Lawrence MCMXI by the Corvinus Press in 1937 (see the previous lot), and it would appear that Lawrence chose these two children's stories as suitable subjects for translation, while he was trying to improve his Arabic during the years before World War I. Although the colophon states that the printing of the volume was completed in December 1937, it seems not to have been published until September 1938, possibly due to problems with the binding of the edition. The book is notable for the large, 36-point Tiemann typeface employed, which, although an unusual choice, produces a striking effect. 6 of the 31 copies are in institutional collections (cf. Nash and Flavell). Nash and Flavell 25; O'Brien A196.