31. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry / Storrs, Ronald / Queen Marie of Romania].

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) with original photograph included. The letter was sent from Sir Ronald Storrs while Storrs was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Cyprus, and Storrs used the internal Diplomatic post to send the letter to Harry Luke in Freetown, Sierre Leone. Storrs discusses a recent “publication by the Thane [that was Edward Keith-Roach, British Colonial administrator during the British mandate on Palestine] in an American Magazine” [that is Keith-Roaches article “The Pageant of Jerusalem”, published in the December issue of the year 1927 in The National Geographic]. Storrs informs Luke “I am this week proposing myself as repr[esentative] of my Govt. to the Oxford Orientalist Congress, Aug 29 – Sept 3. (about which you have doubtless heard). & with to suggest you doing likewise….I think you will again enjoy ourselves [sic] amazingly well. Meanwhile keep yourself free for the Sat-Mn preciding & including the Aug Bank Holiday, when I hope to be staying with the admirable [?] at Magdalene. Where I trust he will make you our [?]. Do I detect a reproach for not having sought permission to use your Map for the stamp ?….learn that the fault is not mine, for Watts had designed one here…The Q of Romania + 5 threatens to descend upon us [″In April 1928 Queen Marie of Romania and her daughter Ileana visited Cyprus. Rupert Gunnis was given the task to show them around the island” (Source: Severis Foundation)], & wd, in any other building than this be as welcomed as honoured. Toward the end of Mar…[?] – With our joint omaggi to yr Lady – I am y RS – – [P.S.]: “Daisy just had a 2nd girl” [the letter was kept by Luke together with an earlier, charming photograph of Storrs twins, titled by Luke: “The little Storrs girls at Deal Beach July 1917”].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Cyprus], 29th of January, 1928. Folio. 1 page with envelope and photograph. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

32. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] / Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Typed Letter Signed / Monogrammed (TLS with manuscript corrections) from Sir Harry Luke to Sir Ronald Storrs. The two – page letter plus addenda was written by Luke in September 1927, during his posting as Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone, and reached Storrs during his Governorship in Cyprus. Luke writes about [Mr.] St.Barbe Baker and two pamphlets [by Baker] he sent Storrs of which one is “full of a passionate idealism canalized into the planting of trees in dry countries”. Luke continues: “He is now in the Forestry Service in Nigeria….I imagine he would be the very man for countries such as Ubr and Palestine, which wage a constant and unequal campaign against drought and inadequate rainfall. If you were to think it worth while to place him in touch with yourself, he might conceivably be of value in the direction of organizing voluntary tree-planting in the Regno di Cipro. In the matter of the Handbook [of Cyprus] I enclose on a separate sheet a very few corrigenda and suggestions…..” [The Corrigenda on page three of the letter (Addenda) deals with corrections of Date of publications of e.g.: “Cyprus under the Turks” etc.].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Sierra Leone], 13th September, 1927. Folio. 3 sheets. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

33. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Typed Letter Signed (TLS) from Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs to Sir Harry Luke. The two – page letter was written by Storrs during the finalization of his posting in Jerusalem as Governor of Jerusalem and Judea and reached Sir Harry while he was still Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone. The Letter touches on the uprooting Storrs and his family feel after 9 years of ‘anchors and tentacles’ [in Jerusalem]. In the letter, which is marked ‘Private – Pl[ease] destroy’, Storrs reports somehow cryptic on a project to get Luke somehow to Cyprus so they can work together again. Storrs reminisces how he looks back with gratitude, pleasure and regret to his collaboration with Luke. Storrs also reflects on a journey: ‘We came out by Paris (where I saw the finest collection of Rhodian plates in the world), Assisi (having named the street here after St. Francis in the spring), Rome (heard Mussolini and saw Gasparri), Athens (warned one or two prominent Cypriots against any political back-chat), Alexandria (to pack my collection of icons and alabaster) and finally Jerusalem whence, on the 29th, H.M.S. Cornflower will remove my wife, self, A.D.C. and about 70 packing cases to Famagusta which we hope to reach on the Feast of St.Andrew, he being, I believe, the Patron Saint of the Island”. In a Post Scriptum Storrs reports.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Jerusalem, 11th November 1926. Folio. 2 pages with original envelope. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

34. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Typed Letter Signed (TLS with manuscript additions) on Stationery of Government House, Cyprus, from Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs to Sir Harry Luke. The two – page letter was written by Storrs in August 1927, during his posting as Governor of Cyprus and reached Sir Harry while he was still Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone. Storrs writes: “My dear Harry, Yours of the 18th received with lively satisfaction and the enclosure from the Thegn [Code for “Thane”] shewn to the highly gratified Daisy, who says it is nothing of the documents that emanate daily from the new office within the wall in Jerusalem. …..I am duly exploring the possibilities …..and indeed comic rumour that I am bored with Ubr. On the contrary the charm and interest of the place grow upon me every day and I am encouraged to believe that the Ergs and foot-poundals expended by myself in a variety of directions are already beginning to generate a current of advantage for the Colony: [continued in manuscript handwriting by Storrs]: including the revision to date of yr. admirable handbook [that is ‘Handbook of Cyprus’] (any bequests thereto ?)….”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus, July 6th, 1927. Octavo. 1 sheet (1 page). From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

35. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Vintage Photograph / Original Portrait of a roughly 30 year old Luke, only a few years into his diplomatic career in the British Colonial Service, during his Cyprus – Posting as Private secretary to the new governor, Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams and his subsequent service as interpreter on HM Cruiser ‘Doris’ and “During several extensions of his period on loan as a political officer with the eastern Mediterranean Fleet [in which] Luke was involved [under Rosslyn Wemyss and de Robeck] in the administration of the islands of Mudros and Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign” (Holland).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [London], c.1914. Board: 20 cm wide x 27.8 cm high / Image: 9.5 cm wide x 14.3 cm high. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

36. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Pursuit of Cyprus Posting by Harry Luke / Earl Curzon of Kedleston / Foreign Office / Admiral Sir John de Robeck /.

Significant, eight-page (8) Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) from J.H.Luke to his son, Harry Luke, while Harry was posted with Admiral Sir John de Robeck in the Mediterranean. The letter also includes two important copies of typescripts, sent to Harry Luke’s father, J.H.Luke (at the St.James’ Club, Piccadilly) from the Foreign Office (directed by Earl Curzon of Kedleston). In urgent Telegrams, Luke had asked his father to help him “to ascertain from Colonial Office if my application for Chief Secretaryship, Cyprus, is likely to be successful and telegraph reply care of High Commissioner, Constantinople, as have meanwhile received offer of Assistant Governorship, Jerusalem, to which I must reply. Would prefer Cyprus”. In a second Telegram that day (28th of July, 1920), Luke writes again to hs father: “Please ask McMahon approach Amery as to succession Stevenson”. The lengthy letter of Luke senior is of great importance because it shows the ever recurring actions of Luke’s father regarding the career-progression of Sir Harry. From other correspondence we know that Luke senior takes a huge interest in his son being promoted to a significant position. From the letter we learn about Harry Luke’s chances to get the Cyprus-Position he so very much desires and about his excellent reputation at the Colonial Office. His father also writes to Harry: “How very kind of the Admiral [de Robeck] to send you to Cyprus in a Destroyer & dispatching that nice cable to Storrs” / An additional two typescrits are dealing with Luke’s publication “Handbook of Cyprus”: Daniel MacMillan had written to the father of Luke and asked for permission to “take down the type”, “Our present stock is 370 copies”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, 28th of July, 1920 – 4th of August, 2024. Octavo-Bifold. 8 pages of manuscript letter, 4 pages of typescripts. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library.

37. [Cyprus Content] – Luke, Sir Harry Charles / [Lieutenant Governor of Malta].

More Moves On An Eastern Chequerboard. Illustrated.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Lovat Dickson & Thompson Ltd., 1935. 22,5 cm x 15 cm. X, 268, [1] pages with 28 photographic illustrations. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) copy from his personal library. Loosely inserted a Christmas Message from Lambeth and Canterbury, The Archbishop of Canterbury [Michael Ramsey and Mrs. Ramsey] with a handwritten note “With our Love”. Some fraying to dustjacket. Otherwise in very good condition.

38. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry Charles] Michael Kissaun.

Rakkont Ta’ Safra Fl-Art Imqaddsa Minn Patri Frangiskan Spanjol. [Author’s Own Copy / With a Chapter on Cyprus]. Maqlub Fl-Ingliz Minn Sir Harry Charles Luke, C.M.G., B.Litt., M.A. U Migjub Fil-Malti Minn Michael Kissaun.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Malta, Stamperija tal-Gvern, 1937. 22,5 cm x 15,5 cm. [4], XV, 94 pages including 4 photographic illustrations (1. Map of Palestine with Gaza and “Guda” / 2. Portrait of Sir Harry Luke / 3. Image of the Manuscript / 4. Another image of the Manuscript). Original Softcover. Good condition with some rougher signs of external wear. Extremely rare ! From the library of Sir Harry Luke.