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 w

[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)

Published by England / Palestine / Israel / Malta / Cyprus, Fiji / Sierra Leone etc., 1898 - 1968., 1968

About this Item

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. In a sense, the Luke-Collection is the ultimate example of record for a faltering Empire transitioning into a friendly Commonwealth of Nations, reflected in the Life of ambassadors like Luke who, kitted out with a well-balanced education and stable family-background applied a diplomatic stance to each posting of his career, which was essentially humanist and way ahead of its time. The Luke - Collection is a shining example of manners, traditions, food and conventions being the ultimate glue between any people and if embraced with respect and dignity there are no limits to cooperation between nations. The collection includes hundreds of unpublished letters, photographs, ephemeral items, manuscripts and as well as 58 Hardcover and 9 Softcover Books plus several Pamphlets, often bound in privately bound Interim-Bindings. Most of these books are Sir Harry's very personal working copies, often not only annotated but also with loosely inserted manuscript letters, notes or drafts. The included pamphlets and ephemeral publications, newspaper-clippings with articles Luke wrote, are scarce and often never offered on the international market. One Volume includes five (5) highly confidential situation-reports from the Pacific). The collection furthermore includes original manuscript letters and typed letters addressed to Luke by important contemporaries such as Sir Ronald Storrs, vintage photographs of a private nature as well as for example the visits of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) during Luke's time at Sierra Leone. The collection is of great importance due to the presence of an abundance of letters Sir Harry Luke himself wrote home during to his parents during his first and formative travels on an "Oriental Tour" through the near and middle east between the years 1906 and 1908. Also included are Luke's private letters home from his very first posting in Sierra Leone 1908 - 1909 - 1910. These letters from Luke's inaugural middle eastern trip and his first posting in Sierra Leone, together with an abundance of letters received and written during his tenure at his postings throughout his career are allowing an intimate glance into the life and thoughts of a british colonial officer during the most dramatic times within the mediterranean powder-keg in the 20th century (1908-1949). Luke's presence in Palestine during the Jaffa Riots (1921), root of all Arab-Israeli conflict, the wailing-wall incident in 1928 (during which Luke disarmed to his own dismay the special jewish constables in the Palestine police) and his overall life as a career-diplomat, his passion for food and ceremonial and controversially, his understanding for the Arab world, even though himself being of jewish descend, reflected in personal and official letters, make this collection a unique, extraordinary addition to every private or public library dealing with the Colonial History of the British Empire and especially the near and Middle East (foremost Palestine). After Luke's parents' death, Sir Harry's personal collection was reunited with many private ephemera, genealogical research of the Luke-family into their ancestry and this unusually detailed collection also allows us not only to partake in the personal conflicts of a dutiful Colonial Officer with the challenges of raising a family while posted at impossible locations worldwide. But Luke's collection allows us also a glimpse into the empathetic involvement of Luke's family in Sir Harry's career and especially his father's active influe. Seller Inventory # 28876AB

Bibliographic Details

Title: Very Large Archive / Collection of British ...

Publisher: England / Palestine / Israel / Malta / Cyprus, Fiji / Sierra Leone etc., 1898 - 1968.

Publication Date: 1968

Binding: Soft cover