[Cyprus Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / [Wilkins, Fraser – First Ambassador to Cyprus from the United States of America (USA) / Kennedy, John F. / JFK Assassination].

Manuscript (MLS) / Autographed letter (ALS) signed by Fraser Wilkins to Sir Harry Luke. The two-page-letter on mourning stationery of the “Embassy of the United States of America by Fraser Wilkins is a thank-you note to former british colonial officer, Sir Harry Luke, who had obviously sent condolences to the US-Embassy on Cyprus regarding the Assassination of JFK. Fraser Wilkins writes: “Dear Sir Harry – It was very thoughtful of you to write at this sad time. We had not realized that you were both in Kyrenia [Cyprus]. It is sad – not only for Mrs Kennedy & his family but also for our Country. There was so much more – as you indicate, which he might have done if he had not been cut down. Its maybe, as the ancient Greeks …said, that those whome the Gods love die young….Sincerely Fraser Wilkins”. Wilkins closes: “We hope to see you before too long!”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus, December 2, 1963. Octavo. 2 pages. Very good condition with minor annoation on the letter in red ink by Sir Harry Luke, identifying Fraser Wilkins as “Ist US Ambassador to Cyprus”.

Cyprus – content and other locations mentioned in annotations inside the book and many original, handwritten letters which are loosely inserted in the book (see items 1 – 10). One of the most fascinating items in the Luke-collection with letters to his father from the British Steam Passenger-ship “S.S.Saidieh” in the first year of his Middle East Travels (Year 1907) – (see items No.11 –.

Letters and manuscript-annotations included are:

1. Manuscript Annotations on Cyprus: Chapter III of the book “The Fringe of the East” is entirely on Cyprus. The chapter starts at page 54 and ends at page 72.
This was clearly the working-copy of Luke in which he made corrections before printing.
With several manuscript annotations in the Cyprus-chapter by Harry Luke and lots of annotations in other chapters of the book
which sometimes relate to Cyprus as well (so in the chapter “Principalities of the Crusaders”).

2. Letter on Cyprus – Palestine – Africa etc: The important “Damascus-Letter” from Harry Luke to his father on March 15th, 1908, has six pages and Harry Luke describes in detail his trip with Harry Pirie-Gordon through Syria and Palestine and also proposes the next stations: “Aleppo, then we cross the Euphrates & get into Antioch, Tripoli, Latakien, Beyrout, where i have to leave the others [and] go on to Acre, Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, Jaffa & there via Cyprus up to Alexandretta, cross the Taurus Mts. [Mountains] to Komaik and then by sail to Constantinople”.
Luke mentions Cyprus once again later in the letter when he informs his father about hearing in Cyprus of the death of Bodley (Oxford).

3. Cyprus – Letter from the Armenian Hotel, Nicosia [Letterhead says: “Established 1898 – Armenian Hotel – George Soultanian, Proprietor – Patronized by Europeans and Elite of Cyprus”] Letter from Cyprus, Jan. 29, 1908 – Harry Luke to his sister Lily: “….we arrived in Cyprus at last about 4 days ago and are now at the capital which is pronounced Nicosia with the accent on the i. It is a delightful place, extremly interesting & full of monuments of the ‘Latin’ or crusading Kingdom which existed here during the 14th & 15th ccenturies.

4. Palestine / Jordan – Letter from Anastas Hanania (Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, March 18,1964), thanking him for the book [Harry Luke has added in a manuscript note that the book in question was the “Bertram-Luke Report” [″Report Of The Commission. Appointed By The Government Of Palestine To Inquire Into The Affairs Of The Orthodox Patriarchate Of Jerusalem”.]

5. [Another] Cyprus – Letter (Condolation) from Damascus – Monday, March 16th, 1908 to Harry Luke’s mother on the death of his Grandfather. Harry Luke describes his arrival to Damascus on horseback and that he only recently had a letter from his Grandfather in which he also spoke about Cyprus.

6. Baalbek Letter (Syria) from Harry Luke to his sister Lily on March 16, 1908. Luke writes her about Damascus and Bethlehem.

7. Istria Letter – Koludari, Istria, Oct. 14, 1907 – Luke writes to his father

8. Letter on Canary Islands: Two Letters from the S.S.Karina (African Steamship Company, Liverpool) – Thursday, Oct. 1, 1908. In this letter Luke tells his father of his imminent arrival in the “Canaries” and does the same in an additional letter to his mother. He is anxiously awaiting his arrival at Las Palmas.

9. Letter from the Free State of Fiume (Stationery of “Grand Hotel Europe – Fl Rossbacher) from Sunday, Oct 6, 1907 in which Lke talks about his arrival from Pest and complains about the sad state of the Hotel in Fiume.

10. Includes a commemoration – pamphlet on the death of “Sir Harry Charles Luke, K.C.M.G., D.Litt., LLD. Bailiff of the Eagle Order – 5th of June, 1969” – Printed by “The Grand Priory Church of the Most Venerable Order of The Hospital of St.John of Jerusalem”. 8 pages with prayers.

Palestine – content:

Especiallly the chapters “Jerusalem I and Jerusalem II” (pages 73 – 114) are full of manuscript annotations in ink with whole pages struck out and replaced by different paragraphs. Luke touches also on Armenia and relations between all Mediterranean countries and islands.

Items No.11 – 16 are a collection of manuscript letters written by Harry Luke from Cyprus and on board S.S.Saidieh:

No.11: Letter from Thessaly – December 29th, 1907: Letter from Luke to his father in which he speaks about his departure from Athens and his arrival at the Monasteries of Meteora [Luke tells his father about the Monasteries in Length] / “We leave tonight for Salonika to get leave from the Patriarch to go to Mt. Athos and then to Rhodes” / “Hope to get to Cyprus Jan.18”.

No.12: Letter from the S.S.Saidieh – off the coast of Asia Minor – January 15th,1907 [should be 1908]: Letter from Luke to his father just after Luke left Rhodes. Luke speaks of Rhodes now being Turkish and breaks down the History of the Island to his father and then reports of his plans to “go to Messina where 3 agents have assured us we shall get a boat to Larnaka [Cyprus]….will next write from Cyprus″

No. 13: Letter from the S.S.Saidieh – nearing Beyrout [Beirut] – January 18th, 1907 [should be 1908]: Letter to Luke’s mother in which Luke complains not to have received any communications from Messina [Turkey] to Cyprus so he had to instead go to Beyrout [Beirut, Lebanon]. Luke continues that “…Messina was quite an uninteresting little Turkish town, so was Alexandretta [Iskenderun]”. / “…..Beyrout [Beirut] as we approached looks charming”. / Luke continues the leter the next day (January 19th, 1907): “we did not get our boat to Cyprus. It changed its mind and went somewhere else” / “…i am dying tpo see my letters which await me in Cyprus” / “We travelled with the new Egyptian Consul General at Beyrout…″

No.14: Letter from Beyrout [Beirut] – January 21st,1908: Letter from Luke to his sister Lil: “I am just off to Cyprus this afternoon….” / “I spent a delightful week on the island of Rhodes…..i was able to take lots of photos, although the Turkish police (the island belongs to the Turks) sometimes objected and said ‘yashak’ which is Turkish for ‘defend’″

No.15: Letter from Beyrout – January 23rd,1908: Letter from Luke to his father from Beyrout [Beirut]: “As you see we are still here. All Steamship Agents in the East are liars & Ships only make up their minds at the last moment. Twice now this last week have we been told that ships were going to Cyprus & each time the boat [..] went elsewhere….”/ “We will be in Cyprus about 3 1/2 weeks and expected to get to Jaffa towards Feb 20th and from there direct to Jerusalem….shall write from Larnaka…″

No.16: Letter from Larnaka [Cyprus] – January 27th,1908: Letter from Luke to his father: “We eventually arrived here Saturday morning after waiting a week at Beyrout [Beirut] for a ship….so far we had bad weather but have been hospitably entertained by a charming man, Mr.Cobham [Claude Delaval Cobham (1842-1915) – who published the “Excerpta Cypria”], formerly Commissioner of Larnaka and an old Oxford man.” / “Tomorrow we leave for Nicosia….i am anxious to hear of the result of your visit to America…Send all letters to Cook’s Jerusalem”/

From No.17 forward: Wonderful Cyprus – Letters in which Luke falls in love with Cyprus, a love which lasts a lifetime long:

No.17: Letter from Nicosia – February 6th,1908: Letter from Luke to his sister Lily: “…i had the most interesting time last week. We went away from here for 3 days to a place on the north coast of the island called Kyrenia which is really most beautiful. We saw red castles on the tops of almost inaccessible mountains….monasteries & all sorts of jolly things…..we went to a ball the other night – it was given in the theatre – we danced in the auditorium, the band (consisting of Cyprus Military Police)

Anastas Hanania (1903 – 1995) was a Palestinian-Jordanian lawyer, judge, official and diplomat.
Hanania was educated at the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut (now the AUB) and the Law College in Jerusalem. He entered the world of Palestinian politics in the late 1930s and 1940s.
After the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, Hanania and his family left Palestine for Amman. During the 1950s, Hanania was one of the original signatories to the Constitution of Jordan of 1952, which remains the law of the land today.
Between 1960 and 1966, Hanania was Jordan’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom and between 1968 and 1989, he was a Senator in Jordan’s Upper House of Parliament. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: American Diplomatic History · American History · American History – Rare · Autograph · Autograph – British History · Autograph – History Rare · Autograph – Rare · British Colonial Administration · British Colonial History · British Foreign Office · British Foreign Policy · Cyprus · Cyprus Content (Autographed Letter Signed – ALS) · Cyprus Content (Manuscript Annotations) · Cyprus Content / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Harry Luke – Cyprus / WW I (1911-1919) · JFK · Kennedy · Kennedy Assassination · Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (JFK) · Luke, Sir Harry · Manuscript / Autograph – Rare · Manuscript History Rare · Manuscript Letter Rare · Manuscript Letter Signed · Middle Eastern History · Middle Eastern History – Rare · Sir Harry Luke · Sir Harry Luke – Personal Archive of Books and Correspondence · Sir Harry Luke Collection · Wilkins, Fraser (Ambassador of USA to Cyprus)
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 31697AB

EUR 275.000,--