1. [Palestine / Transjordan / Israel / Egypt / Suez] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Burrows, Ines / [Sir Bernard Alexander Brocas Burrows].

Interesting Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from Harry Luke’s friend, Ines Burrows, wife of British Diplomat, Sir Bernard Alexander Brocas Burrows, written from Sir Bernard’s posting in Bahrain, hinting at “The Suez Crisis” and the “British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956”. Written on Stationery of “The Residency – Bahrain – Persian Gulf”, Ines Burrows describes part of their life during Sir Bernard’s posting in 1953 as “Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, based in Bahrain and handling relations with Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the seven Trucial States (Wikipedia). After Ines Burrows asks Sir Harry Luke how long he will be staying with them she describes their life of Dinner Parties and their wish to not constantly be invited by those guests who feel they have to reciprocate. But the interesting parts of the letter clearly hint at meetings between Sir Bernard Burrows and the “Rulers”, just weeks prior to the outbreak of the “Suez Crisis” and the letter also delves into Burrows’ opinion of the Gulf States and into an arrangement of need to know between Sir Bernard’s official work and his wish to not disclose any of it to his wife Ines: “Darling, I quite forgot to say in my last letter (which I thought you knew) that the Goddard ….left Kuwait about a year ago- I don’t know if you thought they had come here ? Anyway I will do my very best to be as free as possible from rehearsals when you do arrive…….This place is still in a State. Bernard is constantly about. The Rulers came and spend 2 1/2 hours in the drawing room yesterday [5th of September,1956] & it was followed by an afternoon at the Palace & another conference. Things are now going a bit better and the news will “break” in due course. Bernard is very discreet & says respectfully that its better I shouldn’t know, in case my eyes should light up ….visible understanding if anything is asked or mentioned at a dinner party. Our [?] trip seems now to be starting on Saturday – if nothing worse happens……Much much Love…Ines”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Bahrain [Persian Gulf], 6th of September, 1956. A4. Four pages on two sheets, with original envelope, cancelled in Bahrain and sent to Sir Harry Luke at Kuching, Sarawak, while staying with Sir Anthony Foster Abell KCMG, then Governor of Sarawak. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

2. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Bentwich, Norman.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) addressed to Harry Luke by Norman Bentwich, British-appointed Attorney-General of Mandatory Palestine, who is writing to Luke on the occassion of the passing of Sir Harry Luke’s father: “My dear Harry, I am very sorry to read the announcement of your father’s death. I know how devoted you have been to him & what a grief it will be to you. But it is, I hope, some comfort, that you had been able to have some days with him this year + last. I had your letter…..the Jerusalem ….launched this year after all & under your auspices. [?] is now convinced that he must do something at once about ……I believe that he will try to see you + Pirie-Gordon about it in London. Perhaps the ….has already been launched + if so you all have conjured up ….[?]Norman Bentwich”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Jerusalem, 11th of July, 1930. A4. One page on Stationery of “Government of Palestine – Attorney General’s Office, Jerusalem”. With original envelope, cnacelled stamp from Palestine, addressed to Harry Luke at St.James’s Club. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

3. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office / Downing Street.

Typed Letter Signed (TLS) addressed to Harry Luke and signed OGR Williams on “Downing Street Stationery” / “The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office”: “Sir, I am directed by Lord Passfield to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th of July and to inform you that the Crown Agents for the Colonies are being authorised to pay to you subsistence allowance at the rate of 25/– a night in respect of your attendance at the Colonial Office Conference for the period 23rd of June to the 15th of July (inclusive). I am, Sir, your obedient servant, OGRWilliams [?]”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [London] Downing Street, 23rd of July, 1930. A4. One page with envelope “On His Majesty’s Service”. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke. Important letter stating Luke’s attendance at the Colonial Conference in 1930, shortly before he started the Governorship on Malta.

4. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] / [General Sir John Philip Du Cane].

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from a friend of Sir Harry Luke, informing Luke about making contact for him with “Johnny du Cane”, clearly because of Luke’s imminet posting as Lieutenant-Governor of Malta, which had been announced the very same day. Du Cane had at this moment been Governor of Malta since 1927: “My dear Harry, I have written to Johnny du Cane for you. He is a real good [?], very intelligent and gloriously indolent – Which a men thinks me in everywhere ! – Ever yours – Archie Weyall [?]”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Petwood / Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, 30th of June, 1930. Octavo. One page letter with envelope. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

5. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] / 400 Year Anniversary of Great Siege of Malta.

Unidentified Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) regarding Luke’s resignation [possibly from an order or other form of organization regarding Malta]: “Everyone at the meeting on Saturday was really sorry to hear of your resignation and it was immediately unanimously agreed that you should be invited to be the Guest of Honour at the next Dinner. I think this is particularly appropriate this year, when the 400th anniversary of the Great Siege is being celebrated – and who is there who knows more about the History of Malta than you do !”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [London], 29th of April, 1965. A4. Two pages on one sheet with envelope. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

6. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Wilson, Sir Arnold Talbot.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) addressed to Harry Luke at “The Athenaeum” to congratulate him on becoming the next Lieutenant-Governor of Malta. Wilson uses the occasion to also spread his “Anti-Zionism” by bragging about a lecture he just held in front of the Palestine Society: “Dear Luke, I want to congratulate you very heartily on your appointment to Malta, to which I may be permitted to add an expression of my personal delight at the report of the Palestine Commission so far as it refers to you. I was confident that you would emerge with credit, & indeed nailed my colours to the mast by lecturing to the [?] Palestine Society in January, in a sense far from [?] to Zionism, & saying that I was confident that the Commission would absolve the principal officials, and that the Zionists had made a great error in making an attack on them. I believe I am the only Anti-Zionist who has ever spoken to them! I can send you if you like a copy of my notes ! It is curious that having had your fill of Jewry you should be posted to Malta where the Vatican will be your principal preoccupation. May God – the God of sound Protestants – speed you ! Yours sincerely A.T.Wilson”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London [Britannic House], 13th of June, 1930. Quarto. 2 pages on one page of Stationery from Wilson’s office at Britannic House. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

7. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Roberts-Wray, Sir Kenneth [Order of St Michael and St George].

Six – Page (!) Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) by Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray to Sir Harry Luke. Stunning manuscript letter in which Roberts-Wray discloses information from the inner workings of the “Palestine Commission”, which investigated Sir Harry Luke and the Wailing Wall – Incident. Roberts-Wray would go on to become an important Legal Adviser for the Crown and the Colonial Office and his star rose steady and led to him writing “Commonwealth and Colonial Law”, the most important work on understanding the british understanding of legal procedure and Colonial Power today.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. German Colony, Jerusalem, , 12th of January, 1930. Small Quarto. 6 pages on 3 sheets with original envelope. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

8. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles / Pirie-Gordon, Harry / Lambeth Palace / The Times / St.John – Meeting and Investiture at Buckingham (1927)] Allenby, Sir Edmund H.H.

Four Manuscript letters from Sir Harry Luke’s friend, Lieut.Colonel Harry Pirie-Gordon (Military Editor), together with a poor working-copy of Allenby’s “A Brief Record of the Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force – July 1917 to October 1918” (Second Edition, 1919). Harry Pirie-Gordon wrote the Preface to this edition and T.E.Lawrence anonymously contributed two Reports to this publication [″Sherifian co-operation in September” / “Story of the Arab Movement”].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London / [The Times], 1926 – 1930. 22,5 cm x 15 cm. Two bifold letters in their original envelope, one addressed to London and one addressed to Sierra Leone. Both letters on stationery of “The Times” , for which Pirie-Gordon worked as “Foreign Correspondent”. Disbound. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy of the Allenby Report but with no annotations. Three letters by Pirie-Gordon were actually kept with this bookblock of the Allenby-Report, one of them is listed in the Luke-Archive under a different topic [in this third letter, Pirie-Gordon actually writes to Sir Harry Luke’s father in a delicate matter regarding a Napoleon – Letter].

9. [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.

10. [Private Materials Sir Harry Luke] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) from Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs during his tenure as Governor of Cyprus to Sir Harry Luke condoling on the death of Luke’s father: ‘Only a word of v. true condolence on your heavy bereavement. Your father was always most kind [?] + helpful to me & I do realize from personal experience how sharp a blow & shock you are under. R S.’ The letter itself does not reference Cyprus but was clearly written during Storrs’ time as Governor of Cyprus.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, 2nd of July 1930. Folio. 1 page with official envelope. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.