1. [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.

2. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins who congratulates Luke for his new posting in Malta and refers to the positive outcome for Luke from the Palestine Commission (regarding the Wailing-Wall-Incident from 1928): “My dear Luke, Hearty congratulations on what I read in The Evening Standard this evening. I heartily hope you will indeed get the reward & promotion you deserve. You must have had a interesting time, then & since, but you have come out as I knew you would “on top” …” Tompkins then goes on to talk again about his case of destitution at the end of his colonial career (see also Harry Luke item 31711AB): “I only wish in my small way, that I could get some justice + compensation either “in kind”, or in employment after 6 long years of struggling + patience but with the desperate sharks now, my patience is exhausted + I shall let go ‘la dernière Cartouche’ + if I can get a paper to accept it will expose the whole persecution + unsults I had to submit to under the “Stevenson-Fenn [John Cyril Douglas Fenn]” + “Clique’s” regime in Cyprus…..[….] – Yours sincerely, A.C.Tompkins”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Thursday, 12/VI/1930. Octavo. 3 pages on Octavo Bifold. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library.

3. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] /

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) from Lieut – Col. Charles William Henry Sealy (‘CWHS’) to Sir Harry Charles Lukach (later Sir Harry Luke), addressed to Luke as Lieut-Commander H. C. Lukach – Chief Secretary’s Office – Troodos, Cyprus). Sealy apologises profoundly for not writing and informs Luke about prices for certain stamps. But the main reason for the letter seems to be an item Luke had waited for from Sealy, an enclosed Manuscript-Family-Tree of the orientalist James Justinian Morier [Author of ‘The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824)’ and fellow Traveller of the Levant and also emplyed as Diplomat]. he letter was obviously started twice by Sealy, at different dates but the letter was finally finished and sent 25th of July, 1916: “Dear Luke, I am a pig not to write – I’m sory & tomorrow I swear I will sit down & [write] you the letter of the year – / Dear Luke, here is some Morier stuff – if you want any more let me know, there is a reasonable notice of him in DNB. Prices of Salonikas are good – a man has offered twenty guineas for a complete set used on an envelope – and one such envelope has actually been sold for £20 and another – just the same – for £25….Long Island overprinted on Turkish – they ask £15 each ! – No job yet – but I worked at Admiralty yesterday to please a pal. Best salams CWHS”. / The enclosed Family Tree tree begins with James Morier’s father Isaac Morier, and his maternal grandfather David Van Lennep, ‘Dutch Consul general in Smyrna President of Dutch Levant Co’. At the foot is a list of seven works by James Morier, with dates. The Morier – Family Tree also includes Clara van Lennep.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [London], [on stationery of Charles William Henry, 6 Priory Grove, The Boltons, [London], 25 July, 1916. Octavo. 2 pages. Very good condition. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

4. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles].

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from Harry Charles Lukach (Sir Harry Luke) to his Father & Mother. Luke writes on August 29th, 1913, using Stationery of “Government House, Cyprus” from his new administrative posting within Government House, Cyprus, where Luke was posted between November 1911 – c. October 1914, still under Goold-Adams. Luke writes: “….the Goold-Adams’ landed in Limasol yesterday….Their new P[ersonal] Sec[retary] is a young Oxford Man called Cunningham – that is all I know about him as yet. I am staying on as Gov[ernment S[ecretary] as guest of the GA’s till I go on leave; I shall probably go down to N’sia to pack next Thursday. My Steamer goes on Sat.8th from Larnaca to Meronia.”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus / Government House, 29 August, 1913. Octavo. Bifold Octavo, all four pages with manuscript handwriting, signed. Very good condition. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

5. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles].

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from Harry Charles Lukach (Sir Harry Luke) to his father. Luke writes on October 4th, using Stationery of “Government House, Cyprus” from his posting as Private Secretary of Governor Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams in Cyprus, where Luke was posted between November 1911 – c. October 1914. At this time Luke is awaiting a promotion [it will come a few weeks after this letter was written and he is updating his father]: “My dear Father, yours of 27 Sept from Vienna just received…..This is our last week on Troodos…in 5 days we go down to Nicosia, where it will be hot for another 3 weeks or so after we get there. I have not yet said anything to Sir H[amilton Goold-Adams] about the S.A.offer; I think that the best opportunity to do so would be when he actually recommends me for a higher post here. This cannot be done at once, as he will first have to get rid of the present holder (the Asst. Secretary), wh[ich he will try to do when he goes on leave. But don’t mention this, as he has not yet tackled the C.O. I enclose a photo taken lately of a shooting match here between Soldiers & Civilians. Sir H[amilton Goold-Adams] shot for the latter, & I was a spectator (in Colonel Glasses). The Soldiers won. Much love to you three – Your loving son Harry”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus / Government House, 4 October 1912. Octavo. Bifold Octavo, all four pages with manuscript handwriting, signed. Very good condition. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

6. [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.

7. [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.

8. [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.

9. [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.

10. [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.