251. [Ecclesiastical Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] / Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall T. Davidson / Davidson, Randall Thomas (1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, GCVO, PC).

Typed Letter Signed (TLS) from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall T. Davidson, to Harry Luke, then Assistant Governor of Jerusalem: ‘Dear Mr.Luke, I thank you very cordially for your ‘Handbook of Palestine’. I am sure that such a book has for some time been wanted – a book a little different from the mere guide-book. You have now met the need, so far as I can judge, most effectively. I am yours very truly Randall T. Canterbury.’

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, 20th of October, 1922. Octavo. One page with original envelope. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

252. [Sierra Leone Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Fiddian, Alexander (Alex) [Colonial Office].

Typed Letter signed (TLS) on Colonial Office Stationery from Establishment Officer for the Colonial Office and the Dominians Office, Alexander (Alex) Fiddian) to Harry Luke, congratulating him on the CMG: ‘My dear Luke, hearty congratulations on this altogether overdue decoration. You will at any rate bring to the Order a certain literary éclat which hitherto has been very very rare indeed. I really think that for once the C.M.G. has been well deserved. I hope you are flourishing and find things all to the good. With best new year wishes Yours ever Alex Fiddian.’

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Downing Street, January 1926. Octavo. 1 page with envelope and newspaper clipping with an obituary on Captain Edward Oliver Gladstone. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

253. [Ecclesiastical Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Bell, George Kennedy Allen.

Typed Letter Signed (TLS) on Lambeth Palace stationery from Bishop George Kennedy Allen Bell to Sir Harry Luke: ‘My dear Luke – very many thanks for your letter and kind congratulations. I am sending this in duplicate to Jerusalem and to the St. James’ Club. I should greatly like to see you when you are in London if this is possible. I do not disguise the sorrow with which I hear of your impending departure from Jerusalem. The loss of yourself following so soon after Deedes’ [Brigadier General Sir Wyndham Henry Deedes] departure must be a great loss to Palestine and in particular to the Patriarchate. I am also very sorry to hear that Barron [J.B.Barron of the Palestine Land Commision Weights and Measure Commission] is leaving and I wonder what is going to happen to the Commission and all its affairs. I shall be leaving Lambeth on March 31st and spending ten days in the Lakes: then I go down at once to Canterbury where I shall be from April 12th to May 5th. I shall be in London for about a fortnight from May 5th onwards. I would greatly like to see you if you are about at that time. Yours very sincerely, G.K.A. Bell.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Lambeth Palace, 18th March 1924. Octavo. 1 page with original envelope. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

254. [Sierra Leone Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Typed Letter Signed (TLS) on Stationery of Government House, Cyprus, from Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs to Sir Harry Luke. The one – page letter was written by Storrs in July 1927, during his posting as Governor of Cyprus and reached Sir Harry while he was still Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone. Storrs writes: “My dear Harry – I can hardly bear to read the first and second pages of your letter….and even now feel a sort of suspense created by its maddeningly tantalizing information. I am consoled on the whole by your refusal of the G.C. from which, in spite of the extra cash, there was no possible increment to your now made reputation and which would, as you feared, have infallibly tended to prolong your exile in W.A. [West Africa]..[…]…Archer [that is Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer] has now put in (more surprisingly to me than actual resignation) for a transfer to the West Indies.”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus, July 6th, 1927. Octavo. 1 sheet (1 page). From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

255. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] / Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst.

Typed Letter Signed / Monogrammed (TLS with manuscript corrections) from Sir Harry Luke to Sir Ronald Storrs. The two – page letter plus addenda was written by Luke in September 1927, during his posting as Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone, and reached Storrs during his Governorship in Cyprus. Luke writes about [Mr.] St.Barbe Baker and two pamphlets [by Baker] he sent Storrs of which one is “full of a passionate idealism canalized into the planting of trees in dry countries”. Luke continues: “He is now in the Forestry Service in Nigeria….I imagine he would be the very man for countries such as Ubr and Palestine, which wage a constant and unequal campaign against drought and inadequate rainfall. If you were to think it worth while to place him in touch with yourself, he might conceivably be of value in the direction of organizing voluntary tree-planting in the Regno di Cipro. In the matter of the Handbook [of Cyprus] I enclose on a separate sheet a very few corrigenda and suggestions…..” [The Corrigenda on page three of the letter (Addenda) deals with corrections of Date of publications of e.g.: “Cyprus under the Turks” etc.].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Sierra Leone], 13th September, 1927. Folio. 3 sheets. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

256. Walsh, Langton Prendergast.

Under the Flag, and Somali Coast Stories.

London, Andrew Melrose, Ltd., no year (c.1910). 16 cm x 23.5 cm. Frontispiece, VIII, 384 pages. Hardcover [publisher’s original salmon cloth] with lettering on spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear and fading. Interior is bright and clean.

257. [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.

258. Le Breton, F.H.

Up-Country Swahili Exercises – For the Soldier, Settler, Miner, Mercahnt, and Their Wives. And for All Who Deak With UP-Country Natives Without Interpreters.

Thirteenth Edition. Richmond, R.W. Simpson and Co., (1956). 12 cm x 17.5 cm. 96 pages. Softcover/ publisher’s original. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Upper corner of front board bumped. Name of preowner on pastedown.

259. [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.

260. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Vintage Photograph / Original Portrait of a roughly 30 year old Luke, only a few years into his diplomatic career in the British Colonial Service, during his Cyprus – Posting as Private secretary to the new governor, Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams and his subsequent service as interpreter on HM Cruiser ‘Doris’ and “During several extensions of his period on loan as a political officer with the eastern Mediterranean Fleet [in which] Luke was involved [under Rosslyn Wemyss and de Robeck] in the administration of the islands of Mudros and Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign” (Holland).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [London], c.1914. Board: 20 cm wide x 27.8 cm high / Image: 9.5 cm wide x 14.3 cm high. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

261. [Sierra Leone Content] – [Luke, Harry / Lukach, Harry] / Probyn, Sir Leslie.

Vintage Photograph of Harry Luke together with Sir Leslie Probyn, Governor of Sierra Leone from 1908-1910 (dated verso “Freetown, 1910”). The photograph shows a very young Harry Luke and was taken during Luke’s tenure as Private Secretary and Aide-de-Camp to Sir Leslie Probyn.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1910. Large Octavo. Photograph itself: 14 cm x 19 cm. / Mounted on carton 20 cm x 26,5 cm. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

262. [Sierra Leone Content] – [Luke, Harry / Lukach, Harry] Edward, Prince of Wales / Alphonso Sylvester Lisk-Carew.

Vintage Photograph of Harry Luke with Edward, Prince of Wales, 1925, Sierra Leone. [at Municipal Garden Park in Sierra Leone]. Photograph taken by Alphonso Sylvester Lisk-Carew, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Sierra Leone, 1925. 14 cm x 19 cm. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

263. [Palestine Content] – [Luke, Harry / Lukach, Harry Charles].

Vintage Photographic Plate of Sir Harry Luke together with his wife and an aide, either taken during his tenure as acting Commissioner of Famagusta (Cyprus) or as High Commissioner to the Government of Palestine. Includes a vintage print of the photograph with Luke cut out.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Famagusta (Cyprus) or Jerusalem (Palestine), c. 1918 – 1924. Octavo. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

264. [Transcaucasia] – [Lukach, Harry Charles / Sir Harry Luke].

Vintage Photographic Print of Outpost in Armenia, titled and dated by Harry Lukach on the rear: “Armenian Advanced Post – Igdir Front (near Ararat) – 16/4/20)”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Igdir], 1920. Postcard size. From the personal collection of Sir Harry Luke.

265. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Vintage wedding photograph of Harry Luke and Joyce Evelyn Fremlin (daughter of Henry James Leigh Fremlin and his wife, Maud Evelyn Deane). The wedding photograph was taken in 1918, at Larnaca, shortly after the wedding – ceremony “in the little Anglican Church of S.Helena” (C&M, II, 44). At the time, Luke was still commissioner of Famagusta (1918-1920).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Famagusta], 1918. 23 cm x 17 cm. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

266. Stoneham, C.T.

Wanderings in Wild Africa. Illustrated.

Third Impression. London, Hutchinson & Co, 1932. 15 cm x 22 cm. Frontispiece, 286 pages. 34 illustrations including frontispiece. Hardcover [publisher’s original slamon cloth] with lettering on spine. Tooling to spine and front board. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some stronger signs of foxing.

267. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] From Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji.

Welcome Address To His Excellency The Governor, Sir Harry Charles Luke C.M.G., Governor of Fiji. From Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, Sanatan Dharam Rishikul Maha Sabha of Fiji, 22nd September, 1938. 39 cm x 25,5 cm. [1] page. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

268. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Charles] From The Sikh Community of Fiji.

Welcome Address To His Excellency, Sir Harry Charles Luke C.M.G., Governor in and over the Colony of Fiji, and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. From The Sikh Community of Fiji.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva, The Sikh Community of Fiji, 16th September, 1938. 40 cm x 27 cm. [1] page. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

269. [Mesopotamia / Mosul Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Wonderful example of the research trips Harry Luke made for his later publications: Copy of a full page letter Sir Harry wrote from Mosul to his father in 1924: “My dear Father, only a hearty line in the state of great rush to tell you that we safely accomplished the Journey across the desert from Jerusalem to Damascus to Baghdad, though it took us 5 days instead of 2 and a half owing to breakdown and sticking in the mud etc. At one place, half way across the desert, we stuck for 20 hours. We left Jerusalem on the 9th and got to Baghdad on the 14th at noon and had to leave that same evening for Mosul, as the trains only go twice a week. We had 15 hours in the train to the Northern terminus of the Baghdad Railway and then 75 miles by car. We are being put up by the British Political Officer here, in a charming house. Today I have been out all day in neighbouring Jacobite and Chaldean villages and monasteries and this evening visited one of the persons I had especially come here to Kurdistan to see, namely the hereditary Patriarch of the Nestorians, now a boy of 15, who has been Patriarch for 3 years, an attractive shy lad who not officiating as Patriarch plays football with the other Nestorian children. Tomorrow we go out to the Shrine of the Yezidis, or Devil-worshippers, in the company of their hereditary Emir (who I am told is always tight). We leave here on the 20th for Bagdad and then straight back to Jerusalem.”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Mosul, 1924. Octavo. One and a half page – Typescript Letter. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

270. [Education of Sir Harry Luke] – [Lukach, Harry Charles / Sir Harry Luke] / Farnborough School.

Wonderful Manuscript Letter signed by 14 year old Harry Charles Lukach to his Father: “My dear Father, In this week’s marks in Classics I am first with 117, in Mathematics first with 46, and in French Seventh with 26 marks. In the match against Sunningdale we beat them by 4 goals to 2. The Gordon Highlanders won their return match by 5 goals to 2. On Wednesday the first and second eleven play Hillside, and on Saturday the first Eleven play Hartley Row. In the Common Sense Paper I was sixth with 233 marks out of 400. The Anthem this Evening is “The Radiant Morn” – With much love, Your loving son, Harry”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Farnborough,, October 31st, 1897. Octavo. One manuscript letter, accompanied by two Common-Sense and General Knowledge Papers from Farnborough School, Lent School Time, 1897. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

271. [Education of Sir Harry Luke] – [Lukach, Harry Charles / Sir Harry Luke] / [Pirie-Gordon, Harry].

Wonderful Manuscript Letter signed by Harry Charles Lukach (later Sir Harry Luke) to his Father, written during a holiday which Luke spent in the Western Isles on Iona, together with his friend Harry Pirie-Gordon: “My dear Father, many thanks for your letter. I sent you the Oban Times yesterday with an account of our Swim. We are getting quite notorious….The other day a parson & his wife arrived here & when I was introduced, said: “Are you the Mr. L. I read about in the papers….” I am so glad you are getting the Cleveland Row business finally settled. When will you actually begin to build ? How long is Westinghouse staying in England. Best love, H.” [″Pirie-Gordon had his “Viva” last week. He got a 3rd, & is rather disappointed.”] / Also enclosed is another letter, related to the holiday which Luke and Pirie-Gordon spent together because it proofs Luke extended his holiday to stay with Pirie-Gordon longer. This letter, regarding a payment Luke made, was unsuccessfully sent on September 13th, 1905 to two addresses where Luke was supposed to be until he Luke is found at the Country House of the Pirie-Gordon-Family at Gwernvale, Crickhowell near Abergavenny in South Wales. The letter places Luke with the Pirire-Gordon-Family just a few months before Baron Corvo will be a guest there and start collaborating with Pirie-Gordon on “The Rule of the Order of SS. Sophia”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Iona, August 7th, 1905. Octavo. One manuscript letter, accompanied by two an original section from the Oban Times in which the adventures of Luke and Pirie-Gordon were discussed in the issue of Saturday, August 5, 1905. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

272. Pearce, F.B.

Zanzibar – The Island Metropolis of Eastern Africa. With Illustrations and Maps.

First Edition. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1920. 17.5 cm x 25.5 cm. Frontispiece, XI, 421 pages. 50 illustrations. Two maps near front and also including the often missing large fold-out map of Zanzibar and Pemba Islands at rear. Hardcover [publisher’s original blue cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Embossment to front board. A little rough but still in Good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Minor bumps to corners of boards. Spine cloth frayed at head and tail. Binding is still firm and strong. Some spotting throughout to an otherwise clean interior. With tissue guard in good condition. New endpapers !

273. Lyne, Robert Nunez.

Zanzibar in Contemporary Times – A Short History of the Southern East in the Nineteenth Century. Illustrated with two coloured maps and numerous photographs.

First edition. London, Hurst and Blackett, 1905. 15 cm x 22.5 cm Frontispiece, XII, 328 pages. 27 illustrations. 2 maps. Hardcover [publisher’s original green cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. The rare first edition in Good+ condition only with some strong signs of external wear. Spine nearly detached. Minor bumps and rubs to board corners. Interior very good. Small library stamp to titlepage (cancelled/discarded). [This copy used to belong to the School of Oriental Studies – Finsbury Circus] Deckled edges. Interior bright and clean.