LAWRENCE OF ARABIA A Biographical Enquiry

London: Collins, 1969. First of the Edition. Illustrated with 12 photographs on 10 glossy plates and with three maps. 8vo, original black cloth lettered on the spine in gilt. 448 pp. A fine copy, with neat published comments and portrait of Lawrence pasted to the end papers. WELL WRITTEN ACCOUNT BY ALDINGTON. He called the work a 'Biographical Enquiry' as he went back to research on his own the claims made in the many, many earlier biographies of his subject, including Lawrence's own writings such as THE SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM.
Aldington's "Enquiry" caused a scandal on its publication, and an immediate backlash. He was the first to bring public notice to Lawrence's illegitimacy and he asserted that Lawrence was homosexual. To even greater outrage people felt Aldington attacked the popular hero as a liar, a charlatan and an "impudent mythomaniac", claims that have coloured Lawrence's reputation ever since. Many believed his "venomous attack" upon Lawrence's reputation was nothing more than bitterness, resentment towards Lawrence's fame gained in the Middle Eastern theatre in contrast to Aldington's own suffering in the European trenches. Later, confidential government records concerning Lawrence's career were released which allowed the accuracy of both Lawrence's own account and Aldington's research to be fairly gauged.