One of 30 copies. First edition. The beautifully designed Corvinus Press edition of the diary that Lawrence kept during his first trip to the Middle East in 1911, during which he developed a relationship with Dahoum, the eventual dedicatee of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Number 17 of 203 copies, one of only 30 on Canute paper, together with a copy of the prospectus.

'Before graduating Lawrence came to the attention of Dr D. G. Hogarth, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, who had encouraged his antiquarian pursuits. Through Hogarth's patronage Lawrence secured an award from Magdalen College and a position on the British Museum's excavations at Carchemish in Syria. He worked there between 1911 and early 1914. As well as supervising the uncovering and cataloguing of Hittite artefacts Lawrence became immersed in the life of a turbulent region. According to his letters home he acted as a sort of consul, arbitrating disputes among Arabs and Kurds and threw himself into their intermittent squabbles with German engineers, then supervising the construction of the Berlin to Baghdad railway. As well as playing the Hentyesque Englishman, Lawrence cultivated an intimate friendship with an Arab youth, Dahoum, whose natural intelligence impressed him and qualified him for tutelage. Lawrence's enchantment with Dahoum helped convince him of the Arabs' capacity for regeneration, but on their own terms and without repudiating their traditions and culture. What he had seen in Lebanon made Lawrence hostile towards those Arabs who looked to the West for salvation and absorbed European, particularly French, values. Likewise, he despised the far-reaching modernizing projects of the Young Turks, who then controlled the Ottoman empire, a contempt which developed into a passionate loathing during the war. For him, Dahoum represented the simple purity of the Arab at ease with his surroundings and culture' (ODNB).

George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow (1907–1944) was a book collector who founded the Corvinus Press to create perfectly designed books in very limited numbers, utilising the best typography and craft binders. His numerous literary friendships allowed him to publish work by leading authors, including James Joyce, and this edition of Lawrence's diary is widely considered one of the most beautiful of the Corvinus productions.

First edition, number 17 of 30 copies on Canute paper, from a total edition of 203; 14 plates from monochrome photos by the author, gold headpiece; original brick red crushed morocco, titles to spine and upper board gilt, 4 raised bands; a fine copy.