1. [Autobiography Cities and Men] – Luke, Sir Harry [Luke, Harry Charles].

Cities And Men: An Autobiography [Working copy of Sir Harry Luke with original letters and notes included / With manuscript annotations in the chapter on Cyprus “The Enchanted Island”]. Volume I and II in one.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Geoffrey Bles, 1953. 22 cm x 14,5 cm. Volume I: 245 pages / Volume II: 256 pages. Original Hardcover. Sir Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. With annotations and markings by Harry Luke. Some rubbing to spine, bumping to boards. Otherwise in good condition.

2. Brockbank, Oliver.

Diary of a Journey through the Sinai Peninsula and Arabia in 1914. [Probably the author’s own copy with underlining, replacement-suggestions of paragraphs and annotations with penciled manuscript-corrections throughout the book and additions in red ink / Also two additional photographs of the journey mounted onto the front and rear pastedown].

London, Private, 1916, 14 cm x 21 cm. 78 pages. 16 sepia plates and external fold-out map. Original Hardcover. Cloth bound with gilt debossed lettering to cover. Deckled egdes. Good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Only slightly foxed. Map detached from binding.

3. [Commonwealth & Colonial History & Law] – Luke, Sir Harry [Lukach, Harry] – ‘the most unwasted life of any man I have known’ – (Sir Ronald Storrs on Sir Harry Luke)

Very Large Archive / Collection of British Colonial Official & Lieutenant-Governor of Malta, Sir Harry Luke. The Archive is Sir Harry Luke’s very personal and one might say, confidential collection of original autographed letters, correspondence and books he surrounded himself with at the end of his life. The Archive includes important and meaningful personal and official letters from important historical figures in the Arena of the Middle East and especially Palestine with for example interesting legal insights into the Jewish-Arab conflicts of the 1920s, as well as working-copies of books which Luke wrote himself at every location he was posted to during his career. In order to understand the vastness of the Archive you need to visit our website and see the nineteen (19) chapters of Material we synchronised chronologically with Sir Harry Luke’s life [Search for “Library & Collections” and find 19 chapters at the bottom of that page]. The Archive contains an unbelievable and impressive array of several highly interesting letters and correspondence regarding key historical events as disparate as the Mudros/Gallipoli-Campaign under Rosslyn Wemyss, the Jaffa Riots, the Western Wall Riots of Jerusalem in 1929 as well as information on diplomatic activity prior to the Suez Crisis, descriptions of locations like Guadalcanal prior to the War in the Pacific, detailed information on personell at Gardner Island / Phoenix Islands during the vanishing of Amelia Earhart, to only name a few bizarre coincidences. The books contain manuscript annotations and preparatory notes for later editions as well as many letters written to Luke regarding the many postings he served at during his long career in the Colonial Service. The Archive includes several hundred pages of correspondence between Luke and other officials within the Colonial Office, often in multi-page letters. Also included is proof of Luke’s connections to the Ecclesiastical World of the Vatican and Lambeth Palace, his diplomatic abilities are praised in letters from friends and officials alike. Luke received cordial letters from Queens (Queen Salote) as well as polarizing letters from Politicians. Included are manuscript notepads as well as confidential reports from other diplomats on locations where Luke was soon to be taking office, e.g. British Western Pacific Islands. The Archive is unique in its form because it represents not only the correspondence between Luke as an official but also allows us a view into the life of a Career Diplomat of the last days of the Colonial British Empire who develops a deep connection with everyone he served with and under. Luke did not only keep correspondence with famous friends like Ronald Storrs but also emotional letters from those who served under him and respectfully stay in touch beyond the termination of Luke’s service. Many letters to family colleagues in the Colonial Office, Politicians, Priests with political functions, are preserved with Luke’s original typescript-answer or initial letter. The official and often explosive and historically meaningful content with striking relevance for reinterpreting Mediterranean, Middle Eastern Conflicts etc. makes this archive a must for research and posterity. This is not just any diplomat’s archive. The majority of these letters are unpublished but are waiting to be discovered (see for example the long letter by Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray on the Palestine Commission. Also included his Luke’s very valuable, handwritten manuscript-notebook of colonial postings-recipe-collections together with his working copy of the very special cookery book “The Tenth Muse”. The majority of the collection is now catalogued and visible on our website. A collection of c. 89 letters and 43 items of Ephemera has not been catalogued yet.

England / Palestine / Israel / Malta / Cyprus, Fiji / Sierra Leone etc., 1898 – 1968. Octavo / Quarto / Folio. c.15000 pages (books) / Collection of hundreds of Letters (see images) / Photographs and ephemera etc. Original Hardcover / Softover – Bindings (also private interim-bindings), often with the rare dustjackets in protective collector’s Mylar, some without dustjackets. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Please check our website under “Libraries & Collections” and see detailed listings of books and letters, all categorized.

4. [Fermor, Patrick Leigh] Doughty, Charles M.

Travels in Arabia Deserta. With an Introduction by T. E. Lawrence. [Patrick Leigh Fermor’s personal copy] / [Also including all three Volumes of his autobiographical journey (one of them signed), on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the years 1933 – 1934].

Second Impression of the ‘New and definitive Edition’. Two Volumes (complete set). London, Jonathan Cape, 1943. 20 cm x 26 cm. Volume I: Frontispice- Portrait of Doughty, 674 pages. Volume II: 696 pages. With both Volumes including each the beautiful large colour-fold-out-map in the rear showing “North Western Arabia and Negd”. Hardcover / Publisher’s original buckram with gilt lettering on spine and original dustjackets in protective collector’s Mylar. Deckled fore- and tail-edges. Coloured top edges. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Dustjackets slightly stained and price-clipped. Interior is bright and clean. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s personal copy with his name in ink on the endpaper of Volume II: “Patrick Leigh Fermor. London, July 1945.”. Leigh Fermor obviously rewarded himself with the purchase of Doughty’s masterpiece directly after World War Two. Stunning item, manifesting Doughty’s heavy influence on Patrick Leigh Fermor’s Travel writing. The set includes also three first editions in original dustjackets, of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s famous Travel writings: A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water [SIGNED], The Broken Road (with the second book, “Between the Woods and the Water” signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

5. Hooke, Nathaniel.

The Roman History, From the Building of Rome to the Ruin of the Commonwealth [with the printed Dedication to Alexander Pope]. Illustrated with 17 folding Maps, 4 Fontispieces and 11 other Plates [32 copper-engravings in total].

The Fourth Edition. Four Volumes (complete set with all maps and plates). London, Printed for J. and R. Tonson; Hawkins and T.Longman, 1766 – 1771. Quarto (27 cm x 22 cm). Collation: Volume I: Frontispiece, XLVI, XLVI, 634 pages with 10 plates and 3 maps / Volume II: Frontispiece, XXXII, XXXII, 668 pages with 8 maps / Volume III: Frontispiece, VI, 694 pages with 5 maps / Volume IV: Frontispiece, VII, 464 pages plus 76 unnumbered pages of a General Index and 1 plate and 1 map. Hardcover / Original 18th-century leather with gilt lettering and labels on spine. Interior of this set with all maps and illustrations in excellent, very clean condition. The boards of the bindings with abrasions and some bumping but overall very firm. Some stronger peeling of the leather on board of Volume I, Only three pages with minor tears. The large map of Northern Africa (Palestine, Egypt and Libya) with a minor tear. The stunning maps and plates in timeless beauty. Highly underestimated work, in the shadow of Gibbon but with meticulous detail in presenting the geographical impact of the Roman Conquest. From the library of Daniel Conner (Connerville / Manch House), with his Exlibris / Bookplate to pastedown.

6. Istanbul – Aveline, Pierre.

Constantinople – Ville de Romanie et de l’Empire des Turcs.

Original hand-coloured copper engraving. Paris, Jean, [c.1750]. Plate Size: 51.5 cm x 34.5 cm. Frame Size: 64 cm x 50.5 cm. In very good, actually remarkable condition. Very minor traces of browning only. Generous margins.

7. Livy / Titus Livius.

Historiarum quod exstat, cum integris Joannis Freinshemii [Johann Freinsheim] Supplementis. Emendatioribus & suis locis collocatis, Tabulis Geographicis & copioso Indice. Recensuit notulis auxit Joannes Clericus [Jean Le Clerc, also Johannes Clericus].

Amsterdam / Utrecht, Henric Wetstenius / Willem van de Water, 1710. Small Octavo. Volume I: Frontispice, [30 unnumbered pages], 455 pages / Volume II: Frontispice, 490 pages / Volume III: Frontispice, 470 pages / Volume IV: Frontispice, 446 pages / Volume V: Frontispice, 460 pages (page 161 loosely inserted) / Volume VI: Frontispice, 495 pages / Volume VII: Frontispice, 506 pages / Volume VIII: Frontispice, 496 pages / Volume IX: Frontispice, 504 pages / Volume X [being Geographia Liviani – complete with [all called for] 14 folded maps: Frontispice, several folded maps and Index, 363 pages plus ‘Tabularum Geographicarum’. Hardcover / Original, contemporary vellum with manuscript title to spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear and new endpapers and minor repairs to Volume I. One page loosened. Exlibris / Armorial Bookplate of Daniel Conner to pastedown of each Volume. All the allegorical frontispices in excellent condition. The folded maps in breathtaking condition (see images for each map on our website).

8. Middle East – Fer, Nicholas de / [Nicolas de Fer]. (1646 – 1720)

Vintage Map of Iran / Persia: “Perse” [showing the whole of Iran from the Caspian Sea to the Gulf of Basra (Golfe de Balsora) / Persian Gulf].

Original copper engraved maps. [Paris], c. 1700. 15.5 cm wide x 13 cm high. Mounted on paper. Very good condition. From a wonderful collection of Maps from an old english library (South Shields) – with a tiny library stamp to the mounting paper (The stamp is NOT on the Map).

9. Middle East – Fer, Nicholas de / [Nicolas de Fer]. (1646 – 1720)

Vintage Map of the Middle East: “Turquieen Asie” [showing the Aegean Sea, The Black Sea with Georgia in the very North of the Map and the showing the whole of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia (″Turcomanie Armenie”], continuing south to Syria and Lebanon with Palestine (″Terres Judee”) and showing parts of Persia to the east and all the way south to Medina – With a corresponding map [along the “Tropic of Cancer”] mounted verso: “Asie” [Showing the whole of Asia from the Mediterranean to Japan with Borneo, Phillipines etc.].

Original copper engraved maps. [Paris], c. 1700. 15.5 cm wide x 13 cm high. Mounted on paper. Very good condition. From a wonderful collection of Maps from an old english library (South Shields) – with a tiny library stamp to the mounting paper (The stamp is NOT on the Map).

10. Roberts, David. (1796 – 1864)

Site of Cana [Lebanon] of Galilee, April 21st, 1839 [″Cana, Vue Generale” – “Cana – General View”].

Original, mid-19th century, vintage Lithograph after the original painting in the Victoria & Albert Museum. [The original Lithograph is shown in the wonderful David Roberts-publication on page 23 and 24 in full colour. The History of the image is explained in full on page 22. The original monograph on David Roberts and his work, accompanies the Lithograph as a gift to any future buyer, showing on 120 colour plates 123 colour-facsimile-illustrations and reproductions from his Journal from his visits to the Holy Land]. London, Cassell etc., c. 1850. Beautifully Framed. Size of frame with Lithograph: 62 cm x 45.5 cm. Size of actual Lithograph: c. 34 cm x 50 cm. Excellent condition !