Binding of Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence carried out for Mike Garbett of Bristol.
An optical illusion of three pillars merging into an archway is one which has existed in many forms over very many centuries. Here an interpretation of it is created on front and back covers and, together with the single pillar on the spine, produces the ‘seven’ pillars.
The title on the spine is intended to work alone as the book title but the last word also lead on to create the quotation from the Bible from which the title was based. The deeply embossed sand texture on the lower half of the binding has its texture taken across the pillars to create the illusion of a mirage.
Through an opening in the centre of the arch the figure of T.E. Lawrence emerges on a motorcycle symbolising his leaving his desert life behind and heading towards the West where his life was to end tragically in a motorcycle accident.
The end paper and doublure inside the front cover show a camel train of Turkish fighters carrying aloft the flag of the Ottoman Empire which shows through the opening on the front cover. On the inside is an oasis hiding this from view.
The book is bound in shaded blue and yellow goatskins deeply embossed, onlaid with white pigskin, gold tooled and heat blocked in coloured pigments. The book is in a matching silk lined solander box.
