The money raised from the sale was to be used to open and maintain cots in the orthopaedic section of the Children's Hospital at Frankston, Victoria. Two days after he died, the Melbourne 'Argus' reported that a copy of the rare edition was being sold by the Lord Somers Commemoration League, who had received it from an anonymous donor. As a result, the copies quickly increased in value, and were worth £300 at the time of Lawrence's death on. Apart from the 1926 edition, he wanted no further issue of the book in his lifetime. This was a considerable sum but was not enough to cover the cost of producing the book. Lawrence, not wanting to make a profit from the work, originally priced it at 30 guineas. Encouraged by his friends, however, he began rewriting and eventually produced a limited deluxe edition in 1926 for subscribers. He had a setback in 1919 when he lost the major part of the original manuscript on a platform at Reading Station.

The title, 'Seven pillars of wisdom', comes from the Bible's Book of Proverbs 9:1 'Wisdom hath builded a house: she hath hewn out her seven pillars'. Lawrence began writing Seven Pillars of Wisdom after the war, consciously intending to create a great literary work out of his memoirs. The book contains Lawrence's account of his involvement in the Arab revolt during the Great War. Lawrence, popularly known as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. In 1935 the Australian War Memorial acquired a copy of the rare 1926 subscriber's edition of 'Seven pillars of wisdom, a triumph' by T.E.

Te lawrence 7 pillars of wisdom