THOMAS (Lowell).
With Lawrence in Arabia.
WITH A RARE POSTCARD - "£250,000 REWARD! DEAD OR ALIVE!"
The first edition of Lowell Thomas’s popular account of T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. It was Thomas’s film on the Middle Eastern Theatre of WWI that transformed Lawrence into a Transatlantic celebrity. Tipped-in to this copy is an extremely rare postcard issued to advertise a showing of Lowell’s film in Maidstone (October 25-27th, 1920). Borrowing the design of a wanted poster, it bears the claim “£250,000 Reward! Dead or Alive!” and the Arabic caption “Rajul al-sharq al-ghamid” (The Mysterious Man of the East). It would seem that there was some imaginative copywriting behind the English caption, as Thomas refers to a reward of only £50,000 (see p.190).
Although Thomas spent a relatively short time in Arabia, he took enough still photographs and footage of Lawrence to include the enigmatic soldier in his film, originally titled “With Allenby in Palestine”. First put on in New York in 1919 it moved to London that August and was soon renamed “With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia”, such was the public interest in Lawrence’s remarkable story.
Lawrence ultimately rejected his fame and felt discomfort at many of the cultural representations of his legend. Thomas’s picture was no different, as Lawrence made clear in a well-known letter: “My Dear Lowell Thomas: I saw your show last night. And thank God the lights were out!”
