T. E. Lawrence – Revolt in the Desert – Bumpus Prospectus – 1927: Rare 1927 John & Edward Bumpus promotional leaflet for T. E. Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert, advertising both the standard and large-paper editions, with Augustus John portrait.

London: John & Edward Bumpus Ltd., 350 Oxford Street, W.1., [1927].

Single surviving leaf from a promotional leaflet or prospectus for T. E. Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert, issued by the royal booksellers John & Edward Bumpus shortly before publication. The recto advertises the forthcoming book, with a portrait of Lawrence “from a drawing of the Author by Augustus John”, giving the format as “short royal 8vo”, approximately 450 pages, sixteen illustrations, and the standard price of 30s. net. It also advertises the large-paper edition, limited to 300 numbered copies, on handmade paper, crown 4to, with eleven illustrations in full colour and eight in monochrome, priced at five guineas net.

The verso gives an extended promotional description of the book, presenting Lawrence’s Arab campaign as an epic account of war in Arabia, 1916–18. The text is unfinished, confirming that this is almost certainly one leaf only from a larger bifolium or folded prospectus.

John & Edward Bumpus were closely associated with Lawrence collecting and the sale of deluxe copies of Seven Pillars of Wisdom and related Lawrence material. This Bumpus issue is distinct from the better-known Jonathan Cape promotional material and appears to be a bookseller’s promotional leaflet rather than the publisher’s standard prospectus. We have not traced another institutional or commercial example of this exact Bumpus leaflet; apparently unrecorded as a separate survival.

Single printed leaf only, probably from a bifolium and therefore defective.
Size: 15.7 × 23.1 cm.

Condition: Very good overall, with old folds, light toning and handling wear, minor edge nicks and small marginal losses. Text and image clear.

A rare piece of Lawrence advertising ephemera, directly connected with the first public publication of Revolt in the Desert, Lawrence’s abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

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