1. [Ecclesiastical Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] / [Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930 – 1938)] / [Mac Innes, Bishop] / Bickersteth, Rev. E.M.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) from Reverend E.M.Bickersteth, secretary to Bishop Mac Innes, on stationery of “Jerusalem and the East Mission”: “Dear Mr.Luke, May I be allowed to offer you my congratulations on your appointment to Malta – Everyone connected with Palestine will be very sorry that you have to leave. But Malta certainly needs all the tact, ….+ judgement which you can so clearly bring to your new & very responsible task – so we of Palestine must act grudge you to it. ….Bishop Mac Innes has been successful in getting you the ticket for St.Paul’s, at the reopening service – I have the ticket here –…will you tell me where to send it….”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, June, 1930. Quarto. 1 leaf / two pages. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

2. [Ecclesiastical Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] / [Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930 – 1938)] / Counsell, H.E.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from H.E.Counsell – 13th June, 1930: “My dear Luke, Many congratulations I am sure it is going to be another feather in your cap. You are going to have a job though – so forgive even a few baby suggestions !1. see Ld. Plumer [Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer] if possible he will tell you all about ..[Stuck ?] / 2. Stuck’s great pride if the great Phoenician race from whom he traces his ascent [?] / 3. The Arch….-Bishop is a stern ecclesiastic with a soft heart. On Father Platoris death whom he had ony known a month he was “broken hearted” / 4. Pull all the strings you can at the Vatican – All good wishs and best of luck – Yours Ever – H.E.Counsell / 5. Count Mattei – or at least his wife – who was Judge D[?] daughter might be of service/help – They will probably be on the church side but I should say the Court not too much so.”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Oxford, June, 1930. Small Octavo. 1 leaf / two pages. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

3. [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. Including 123 Books and Pamphlets, often with multiple annotations and inserted materials / Including the stunning amount of 427 Manuscript-Letters / Typed Letters (among which are also a few Postcards) / Including 95 interesting documents / Inlcuding 171 Items of Ephemera. 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 twenty (20) chapters of Material we synchronised chronologically with Sir Harry Luke’s life [Search for “Library & Collections” and find 20 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.

4. [Private Materials / Peter Luke] – [Luke, Sir Harry] Luke, Peter.

Manuscript Letter by Peter Luke to his father, Sir Harry Luke, congratulating him on the promotion to Malta and on his own success in Cricket: “Dear Dad, I hope you are quite well. Congratulations on being promoted to Lieutenant-Governor of Malta. When will you come home, I hope very soon…..”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, 1945 – 1968. Octavo. Vintage Photograph. 9 cm wide x 16,2 cm high. Very good condition. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke and his grand-daughter Georgiana. In the here included letter, in which Peter Luke writes to his father’s address on Barbados, Peter Luke also writes about his brother Micky, Michael Luke, (Peter Luke tells his father of his brother Micky’s visit to him in London: ’(he) has given up what he describes as steady employment in Paris for a somewhat doubtful opportunity of getting a part in a movie over here’).

5. [Malta Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / [Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930 – 1938)].

Collection of nineteen (19) Manuscript Letters Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letters Signed (ALS) as well as one (1) Telegrams from friends, colleagues and family regarding Harry Luke becoming the new Lieutenant Governor of Malta [In Malta this was a position equal to a Governor at other locations]. The news of the promotion, while welcomed after the ordeal of waiting for news in the judgement for Luke handling of the Wailing Wall incident in Jerusalem, reached Harry Luke at a troublesome time. Luke’s father had been ill since the year 1926 and would pass away two weeks after his loving son Harry would find relief in finally being awarded a position deserving of his many achievements. Congratulations rained in from everywhere and many combined the congratulations with speaking their mind and offer support regarding Luke’s Palestine-troubles. While some of the congratulations are strictly formal, several are outspoken about how deserving this promotion is: “….it is a definite vindication in advance – Bless you it is perfectly splendid & I gather that your talent for settling religious difficulties will not be wasted there !”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London and other Places, June, 1930. Octavo. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

6. [Malta Content] – Luke, Sir Harry [Lieutenant-Governor of Malta 1930-1938].

Malta: An Account and an Appreciation. [SIGNED by Sir Harry Luke on the titlepage].

First Edition. [This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1949. Octavo. 200 pages. Illustrated. Original Hardcover (without dustjacket). Very good condition.

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. [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.

9. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Original photographic plate of Edward Cruana Dingli’s painting of Sir Harry Luke.

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

10. [Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Correspondance of 10 letters between Sir Harry Luke and Commander J.R. Clay of Clay’s Marine Steering Gear Limited on behalf of his father J.H.Luke, who was a partner in the company and held a patent on Steering Gear used in the ships of the ‘White Star Line’ from which J.H. Luke hoped to get an income. Sir Harry took over the correspondance from his father who fell ill during the year 1930. The collection of letters is very interesting in regard of the company’s relation ot The Stottpool Steamship Company’ – the fate of the company being discussed in the paper as ‘COMPANY WITHOUT CAPITAL’ – Nothing coming in or going out (Owner were: J.H.Luke / Sir A. Henry Mc Mahon / Comm. J.R.Clay / Lord Southborough / Sir Harry receives information from Commander Clay in a letter from July 17th, 1930 regarding the fact that ‘We have not had any further orders for the Gear, but as previously mentioned to you there is another Motor Vessel similar to the ’″Britannic” building in Belfast for the White Star Line, and we should be able to get the order for her’. The correspondance goes into detail: ‘You will note from the pamphlet which i prepared that the new helm order will become law on the 30th of June 1931. When in Belfast on the trials of the “Brittanic” I met one of the Committee of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea…..He represents the Gyro Compass Company in London and i hopeto bring him to see you as I consider he will be able to help us considerably by recommending the adoption of the Steering Gear Device.’ / The correspondance mainly between Liverpool and Sir Harry Luke’s summer – address in Alt-Aussee, Steiermark, Austria. / The correspondance also includes a manuscript letter in which Sir Harry writes about his fathers illness and wonders if it is really worthwhile to renew the patent in light of the fact ‘that for so many years hardly any line except th White Star Line has adopted the Gear’. [The collection also includes a further 8 letters and also the papers of the estate of Sir Harry’s father. Sir Harry corresponds with his families solicitor, Oliver Dayrell Paget Paget-Cooke and besides the technicalities of the estate also encourages him to visit Malta / one page also on stationery of “The Palace – Malta”].

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