1. Algosaibi, Ghazi A.

Arabian Essays [Inscribed and signed by the Saudi Arabian Author Ghazi Algosaibi to American Author Kathy Cuddihy].

London / Boston / Melbourne, Kegan Paul, 1982. Octavo. 117 pages. Original Hardcover with dustjacket. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only. Inscribed and signed on endpaper.

2. [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.

3. [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.

4. [Saadi of Shiraz] Sa’di / Abu-Muhammad Muslih al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi.

Golestan [Gulistan / Rose Garden] – Original 19th century printed version in Persian / Farsi with some contemporary manuscript notes in pencil. Complete title: Great praise and admiration be upon the Creator of the earth, human kind and spirit Infinite blessings and greetings to the God’s beloved court that in this time with the songs of nightingale in the magic and harmonious flower garden of Honourable Sheikh Saadi Shirazi, may God have mercy on him, and great acknowledgement of the book Golestan. Thanks to the great number of believers, God’s follower Qazi Ibrahim Hajji, the noble pious Hajji Qazi Nour Mohammad Milpabadi and Nour-e-Din Bin Heikhakhan, for the second time.

Bombay, In the Printing House Heydari, 1875. Octavo. 252 pages. Hardcover / Contemporary 19th century half leather with marbled paper-covered boards. It is clear from three consecutive little wholes to the bookblock that this version of the Rose Garden was previously bound as a blockbook and rebound in 19th century boards. First 9 and last 7 pages with a faded stain, possibly from the glue of a former wrapper. Otherwise in very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some occasional manuscript notes in pencil in english.

5. [Tasso, Torquato] / Hoole, John.

Jerusalem Delivered; an Heroic Poem. [Large / Better Paper Edition of “Gerusalemme liberata”]. Translated from the Italian of Torquato Tasso, by John Hoole. [Including a biographical account “Life of Tasso”]

The Eighth Edition – With Notes. In Two Volumes. [Two Volumes bound in one]. London, T.Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1803. Quarto (22 cm x 28 cm). Frontispiece, XLVII, 339, [3], 335 pages plus 44 unnumbered pages of a thorough Index. Illustrated with thirteen (13) beautiful copper engravings (plus the Frontispiece). Hardcover / Stunning, modern half leather with new boards, preserving the original spine. With gilt lettering and ornament, bound to style of the 18th/19th century by an english masterbinder. Excellent condition. With some occasionall foxing. From the library of Richard Meade (Ballymartle), with his Exlibris / Bookplate to pastedown.