1. [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.

2. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / Queen of Tonga [Salote Tupou III (born Salote Mafile‘o Pilolevu)]

Islands Of The South Pacific. [With ten (10) letters loosely inserted among which is a wonderful, signed letter to Sir Harry Luke, by the Queen of Tonga, Salote Tupou / (Also included are four (4) items of Ephemera)]. With the printed dedication: “To Leander McCormick-Goodhart – Who knows some of these Islands – Pignus amicitiae per annos LXIII”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London / Toronto / Sydney, etc., George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1962. 21,5 cm x 15 cm. 285 pages, 61 illustrations (Many Photographs and some Woodcuts from Robert Gibbings). Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. With one annotation by Harry Luke. Some tearing to dustjacket, tanning to spine. Otherwise in good condition. See below a full list of manuscript letters and typed letters which were loosely inserted by Sir Harry Luke in this personal copy of his book on the “Islands of the South Pacific”.

3. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] From Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha-at Islam, Fiji.

His Excellency, Sir Harry Charles Luke, Kt. C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Fiji. From Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha-at Islam, Fiji.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha-at Islam, Fiji, 22nd September, 1938. 33 cm x 26,5 cm. [5] pages. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

4. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] From Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji.

Welcome Address To His Excellency The Governor, Sir Harry Charles Luke C.M.G., Governor of Fiji. From Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji, 22nd September, 1938. 39 cm x 25,5 cm. [1] page. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

5. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] From The Sikh Community of Fiji.

Welcome Address To His Excellency, Sir Harry Charles Luke C.M.G., Governor in and over the Colony of Fiji, and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. From The Sikh Community of Fiji.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, The Sikh Community of Fiji, 16th September, 1938. 40 cm x 27 cm. [1] page. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

6. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Members of Legislative Council of Fiji.

To His Excellency Sir Harry Charles Luke, Knight, C.M.G. Governor in and over the Colony of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. [Calligraphed Welcome-Certificate for Sir Harry Luke at his inauguration of Governor of Fiji, at the even of British Colonialism, in 1938].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, Members of Legislative Council of Fiji, 16th September, 1938. 39 cm x 31,5 cm. [3] illustrated pages. Original Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

7. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Sir / Lukach, Harry] Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton.

Eight – page – Manuscript letter (MLS) to Sir Harry together with a 27-page manuscript-evaluation of local personnell at Government House (Fiji) as well as local politicians and possible agitators in Fiji and the British Western Pacific Territories from Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton, in his capacity as Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the British Western Pacific Territories. This letter and the manuscript evaluations were sent by Richards on July 10th, 1938, on Stationery from Government House (Fiji) in order to inform Luke of the special situation of the posting before Sir Harry would take over the post (from 1938 – 1942). Very intriguing insights into colonial portraiture of possible troublemakers in the colonial service, excellent service men, clerks, and also recommendations for promotions etc. Arthur Richards evaluation of Sir Alport Barker, owner of ‘The Fiji Times & Herald’ is exemplary for the opinionated report to Sir Harry and one of the remarkable reports on ‘European Members of the Legislative Council on Fiji and the British Western Pacific Territories: ‘Aplort Barker – Has been an elected member for about twelve years, ex-mayor of Suva, owns the Fiji Times = Herald – Member of Executive Council / Has a small-minded, narrow outlook partly the result of physical disability. Lame from early days owing to infantile paralysis. Very anxious to get a knighthood. He has an intimate knowledge of local affairs and is often useful. He could be more useful if he were not so petty and spiteful.Very sensitive of slights, real on imaginary. / Apolosi [that was Apolosi Nawai] – Arthur Richards describes him as follows: ‘Apolosi – A man of the people. Fijian agitator & leader. The John the Baptist of a possible future. An ignorant misguided man with a great natural flair for speaking. Can sway words + is to some extent feared by the Chiefs because of his influence. The papers on him are worth reading. He is at present banished to Rotuma but the term expires at the end of 1939, when despite filaria + increasing age (he is well over 50) he will be a man to be watched. / Arthur Richards goes on to report on the ‘Council of Chiefs (Fiji)’’ where matters of interest to the Fijian people are discussed, resolutions are passed and answers are given’ – He informs Sir Harry that ‘The Council has been postponed until Oct. 18th [1938] to enable you to preside. The position of Governor carries immense prestige with the Fijians’. Richards also informs Luke that ‘no ladies, except the Governor’s wife should be present at the opeimus’. In total Arthur Richards talks about c. 32 people in his evaluations and he also gives Sir Harry Luke some information on the Coconut Estates on Fiji, Mines, Suva Yacht Club etc. He goes on to talk about Sir Harry Luke’s arrival and swearing in as governor and taking the oath ‘the whole being relayed over the wireless’ / ‘I assure you that the whole of Fiji + much of the Western Pacific will be listening in, so make a good speech.’ / Magnificent, confidential report between two important representatives of the British Empire during a very sensitive period of world history.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva (Fiji), Government House, 1938. Octavo / Quarto From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

8. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Sir Harry

Omnibus-Letters on the British Pacific Colonies with a multitude of severe Manuscript-Annotations in working-copies of these Omnibus-Letters. These very rare, printed (!) personal and confidential situation-reports from Fiji, Trinidad and Barbados are dated between December 1940 – June 1946, when Luke sent “probably my last ‘omnibus letter’ from the West Indies, as my work here comes to an end in the autumn”. These omnibus letters were all marked “Private and Personal” and are full of details about Luke’s work during his position as “Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner in the Western Pacific” as well as touching on his experiences during his role as “Chief Representative of the British Council in the Caribbean”. See a Full List of the Omnibus – Letters below.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva (Fiji) / Barbados / Port-of-Spain (Trinidad) /, Government Printing Office etc., 1940 – 1946. Octavo. Original Softcover pamphlets, stapled, loosely inserted in pouch titled: “His Excellency the Governor”. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal working copies. Very good condition.