A RARE book signed by Lawrence of Arabia and his Nottinghamshire friend Viscount Allenby could fetch £60,000 at an auction.
The copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom is one of only 170 bound copies from the subscriber's edition of the book, published in 1926.
Each of these copies were signed by Lawrence and each subscriber paid thirty guineas – or just £31.50 – for a copy.
Viscount Allenby, who was born near Southwell, also signed his copy.
Now the Allenby copy is expected to sell for between £50,000 and £70,000 at Sotheby's in London on November 4 – but its desirability could see it fetch even more.
Auctioneers describe the book as "a major association copy of Lawrence's epic masterpiece from the library of General Sir Edmund Allenby."
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an autobiographical account of the experiences of T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks between 1916 and 1918.
Allenby commanded Lawrence in the revolt, and was pleased with the way Lawrence portrayed him in the book.
On January 22, 1927, he wrote to Lawrence saying: "I congratulate you on a great work; fit record of your splendid achievements in the war.
"I am grateful for the kind way in which you refer to my part in our collaboration and am happy to think that to our unity of thought can be attributed, in great measure, the success obtained."
Edmund Allenby was one of Britain's outstanding First World War military commanders.
He was born on April 23, 1861 on the estate of his mother's family at Brackenhurst Hall, near Southwell.
In 1919, the year after the end of the First World War, he was rewarded for his military feats when he was made a Viscount.
Lawrence of Arabia's friendship with Viscount Allenby was not Lawrence's only link with the county.
At different times Lawrence owned seven Nottingham-made Brough Superior motorcycles.
He was riding a Brough Superior SS100 when he was injured in an accident near his Dorset home in May 1935.
He died six days later on May 19, 1935, aged 46.
In the 1962 Oscar-winning film Lawrence of Arabia, Peter O'Toole starred in the title role, while Viscount Allenby – after whom Allenby Road in Southwell, is named – was portrayed by the late Jack Hawkins.
