Lawrence of Arabia letter up for sale

A LOST letter from Lawrence of Arabia describing his experiences at an RAF base in Lincolnshire is to be sold at auction in the Capital.

The letter from TE Lawrence to Francis Rennell, later Lord Rennell, was found inside a rare copy of his book The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, which inspired David Lean's 1962 film Lawrence Of Arabia.

One of 170 published by the author in 1926, the letter, dated 3 November 1925, talks of his experiences of the campaign against the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East during the First World War.

Lawrence tells of his recent move to the RAF cadet college in Cranwell, Lincolnshire. He describes the county as "a picture of dead earth in green and grey", although he was upbeat about his time there.

He wrote: "The camp is good. Also the fellows, also the life. Mark me down for a further spell of quite happy existence."

The letter and the book are valued at 28,000 and will be auctioned at Lyon & Turnbull, in Edinburgh, next Wednesday.