1. [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.

2. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry].

Collection of eight (8) manuscript letters Sir Harry Luke received during his appointment as acting High Commissioner to the Government of Palestine (July 1928 – December 1928) from his father (J.H.Luke), mother (Eugenie Luke, nee Zamarski) and close family. Especially his father discussing also political matters that effected Sir Harry Luke during his posting in Jerusalem [in one letter from November 30th, 1928 J.H.Luke lets his son know that ‘I obtained two copies of the White Papers dealing with the Wailing Wall incidents – J.H.Luke asks provokingly: “Who was the Dept. Dir. Comm. ?” [during which the incident happened]. Some of the envelopes include multiple pages, plus several letters from other members of family that were posted to Luke’s appointment in Palestine together in one envelope. The letter from his father is of significance because it reflects the conversations Sir Harry Luke had with his father about the time during his posting as High Commissioner in Palestine.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London / Jerusalem, 1928. Octavo. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

3. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry].

Collection of nineteen (19) Letters and five (5) Congratulatory Telegrams on the occasion of Sir Harry Luke being awarded the post of Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930 – 1938). The often very detailed and personal letters are full of praise and support for Luke and not seldom are filled with regret for seeing him not return to Palestine. Other colleagues who served in Malta, are encouraging him and promise he will like it there. Letters included are important reflections on Luke’s character and show his impeccable reputation among peers and family.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London / Austria / New York etc., June 1930. Octavo. From the personal library of Sir Harry Luke.

4. [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].

5. [Sierra Leone Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] Furse, Sir William.

Imperial Institute: Annual Report, 1926. [With Typed Letter, signed (TLS) by Sir William Furse to Sir Harry Luke]. By the Director Lt.-Gen. Sir William Furse, K.C.B., D.S.O., To the Board Of Governors (Meeting, 9th February, 1927).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Imperial Institute, 1927. 25 cm x 15 cm. II, 46 pages. Original Softcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Good condition with some minor signs of external wear.

6. [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.

7. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Pirie-Gordon, Christopher.

Long (2-page) Manuscript Letter (MLS) / Autographed Letter, signed (ALS) by Christopher Pirie-Gordon, 14th Laird of Buthlaw, “formerly Assistant-Resident in Amman and seconded for service under the Foreign Office, following the winding-up of the Palestine Administration”, to Sir Harry Luke from Pirie-Gordon’s post in Taiz (Yemen). Pirie-Gordon writes: “‘My dear Harry Charles, thank you so very much for your recent letter. Iremain almost aghast at the extent of your “wanderlust”. Brazil and Penang combined with almost permanent residence in Malta and a flat in London seem quite a good way of keeping at bay in suggestion of the humdrum or routine in life”. Pirie-Gordon describes his recent activities, including a ‘visit to stay with our Ambassador in Addis Ababa’, where he found the Ethiopians ‘a friendly courteous people’. Regarding the situation in the Yemen Pirie-Gordon writes: “We have been through a rough summer here during the Crown Prince’s period of Regency with one unpleasant afternoon in Taiz when the army ran amok”. The fact that the country did not have ‘the long awaited revolution then, when the Imam [Ahmad bin Yahya] was out of the country’, has convinced Pirie-Gordon ‘that revolutionaries of the necessary calibre are just not to be found locally’. Of the Imam he writes: “If someone bumps the old man off (no easy undertaking) or if Allah decides that he can do without him no longer then all hell will be loose and the War of the Roses will probably be declared at once.” In the meantime the country will ‘probably slide into a nice quiet anarchy’. Regarding ‘His Majesty’s gracious message’, Luke’s ‘mental imagery’ of ‘the Dragon breathing fire’ is ‘not inapt’. Pirie-Gordon now turns to his own future, which ‘remains shrouded in mystery’. His aim is to secure a ‘particular post’, despite ‘the Ambassador in the country concerned’, who is ‘anxious to have it for an old boyfriend of his own’. The letter ends with Pirie-Gordon describing his ‘highly international social life’, which, he declares, ‘suits me well’.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Taiz [Yemen], 8 October, 1959. Quarto. Two pages. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library. The letter comes with a publication, edited by Hector Bolitho: “The British Empire”, in which are contained two essays on the Colonial History of the Empire by Sir Harry Luke: I.The Mediterranean Colonies and Aden” / II. “The British Islands of the Pacific”.

8. [Transcaucasia Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Manuscript “Notes for Lecture on Transcaucasia” on embossed Stationery of “Governorate Jerusalem”, clearly written during his appointment as Assistant governor of Jerusalem under Sir Ronald Storrs between the years 1920 – 1924. The wonderfully detailed preparation-manuscript cites many details from Luke’s mission to Transcaucasia as “British Chief Commissioner in the disturbed countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; Luke later remembered the Armenian capital, Erivan, as ‘the saddest town’ he ever saw” (see Luke, Cities and Men, Volume 2, page 170).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Jerusalem], c.1924. Quarto. 7 pages. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

9. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Major Algnernon Tudor-Craig.

Manuscript Letter / Autograph Letter signed on Stationery of the Lieutenant Governor of Malta, from Sir Harry Luke to Major Sir Algernon Tudor-Craig: “Dear Sir Algernon Tudor-Craig, oddly enough your letter of the 28th August, after following me about Austria & Yugoslavia, actually found me in Dubrovnik, from which I have just returned via Hercegovina & Bosnia. That will explain why i failed to show up when you called at Malta. I am sorry, as I should have liked to see you at Casa Leoni” – Luke continues by expressing his hope that both parties will be “more fortunate next time”….″Yours sincerely H C Luke”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [St.James Club Piccadilly], 21-IX-1936. Small Quarto. 1 sheet with both sides in manuscript handwriting. From the library of Algernon Tudor-Craig. Very nice letter by Luke on his beautiful Maltese stationery to the british army officer and reknown heraldist Tudor-Craig.

10. [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.