11. [Commonwealth & Colonial History] – 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 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 recipe-book, written in the 1930s, includes several pages with historical recipes of Food prepared in Cyprus, with special recipes of “Kyrenia Salad”, “Apricot Brandy (Cyprus)”, “Kyrenia Tomato Paste”, Kyrenia Salad”, or in Malta: “Deviled Chicken Livers (from wife of some Colonel [Dodo Stone] in Malta) or a recipe for Paté “From Soeur Marie Pierre, a nun from the Vendée in Rotuma [Rotuma Island – a dependency of Fiji]. 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.

12. Congo / Kongo – Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909) – King of the Belgians and Owner / Absolute Ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II to his administrator and Foreign Minister of the Congo – Free-State, Baron Adolphe de Cuvelier (1860-1931) with a total of 16 pages filled with Leopold’s instructions on pressing issues regarding a warning about an imminent visit by the Rector of the Mill-Hill Missionaries [probably Herbert Alfred Henry Vaughan (1832 – 1903)] and Leopold’s qualification of the visit of being detrimental to the Congo Free State (″ne travaillent pas pour l’État”). Leopold continues in another letter to talk about the hostile positions of english officials (consuls) and missionaries (″que les consuls anglais et les missionnaires anglais se conduisent bien mal envers l’État”). Interestingly, Leopold also touches on the nuisance of the german press criticizing Belgian Railway Lines and he is of the opinion that this is all happening in order to force the german parliament [″Reichstag”] to finance the building of the Tanganyika Railway [between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma]: (″cherche à effrayer l’opinion [en] Allemagne à propos de mes chemins de fer afin d’obtenir du Reichstag des fonds pour la ligne allemande vers le Tanganika”.

16 pages of MLS, Manuscript Letters (signed) on 10 leaves of Leopold’s official stationery “Château de Laeken” and “Palais de Bruxelles”. Laeken / Brussels, Château de Laeken [Palace of Laeken], 1901 – 1906. The leaves with different sizes (13,5 cm x 9 cm) and (18 cm x 11,5 cm). Excellent condition. Unsigned. Tremendously rare to find original letters by Leopold II on the open market in which the Colonial Free State and the protection against inquisitive visitors is discussed in such clear and instructive fashion. Leopold’s correspondence with Adolphe de Cuvelier shows how he is very much trying to still protect and influence the narrative of his Colonial Slavery Outpost even in the final years of his life.

13. [Cumberbatch, Benedict] Cumberbatch, Henry Arnold / Rees, Helen / Basil Benwell Rees / William Benwell Rees / Etheldreda Blanche Barker / [Sir Winston Churchill / Sir Anthony Arthur Duncan Montague Browne [Private Secretary to Sir Winston Churchill]].

Large Family Archive of the Benwell Rees – Family, including William Benwell Rees (brother to actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s grandmother Helen Rees, by marriage to British Diplomat Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, who was Consul in Romania, Turkey and Lebanon ). The archive includes at least one manuscript letter by Henry Arnold Cumberbatch and around one thousand documents chronicling the lives of the ex-patriate Benwell Rees family from 1890-1970 in Alexandria and Monaco, including William Benwell Rees, whose marriage to Etheldreda Blanche Barker cemented the family’s role in the highest circles of Alexandria life. The archive also charts their son Basil Rees’ decade in Monaco under Princess Grace and Prince Rainer III where he served as President of the British Association in the 1950’s-‘60s and solicited a letter written by Sir Anthony Arthur Duncan Montague Browne, on Winston Churchill’s behalf on Chartwell headed paper in which the former Prime Minister declined to attend an event in Monaco [signed by Montague Browne]. The archive is held in five heavy volumes, bursting with a plethora of amazing and wonderful historical letters, ephemera, emotional messages and telegrams, old images, theatre-programmes, and especially also includes programmes of plays in which ancestors of Benedict played (J.M.Barrie, Shakespeare etc.). The original letters and documents paint an interesting picture of Benedict Cumberbatch’s grandmother’s side of the family history in the Levant, their service in the Middle East and their social lives. The five volumes are bound in bespoke red morocco over textured paper-covered-boards and they contain at least one reference to Helen Rees next to a newspaper-clipping and dozens of wonderful handwritten letters and cards. Each volume about four inches across spine with title in gilt to upper cover and around 100 leaves in each with documents mounted recto and verso throughout, with photographs, invitations, business materials and clippings that chart the family’s life in their service for the British Colonial Office. The five Volumes include for example: Volume 1: The Benwell Rees’: begins with Egyptian Gazette, 1890 and a programme for a performance c1900 at the Port Theatre, Marina, Alexandria of Rumpelstilkskin; visiting cards and contemporary reports of the marriage of W B Rees and Etheldreda Blanche Barker in Alexandria, February 1901; Windsor Hotels prospectus and flyer (a WBR enterprise); 1913 Casino de Monte Carlo ticket for Ethel Rees; Kings School Canterbury ephemera and St Johns’ College, Cambridge for Basil Rees from 1920’s, graduated June 1924. Volume 2: The Benwell Rees’ Vol II, 1920’s-1990’s: includes J M Barrie, Quality Street programme for English Girls’ School, Alexandria, 1941; invitations from Princess Grace of Monaco etc Volume 3: Basil Rees Vol III, cover nearly detached, 1953- Basil Rees living at 2 Rue Origene, Alexandria, and covering period of move to Palais Majestic, Monaco after which he served as President of the British Association and his sudden death in 1967. Invitations to dinner and place settings with the Prince and Princess of Monaco. Birthday greetings; international stamp collecting societies. Photographic ‘Permis de Sejour’ for William Benwell Rees in Monaco, October 1918. Volume 4: Basil Rees Vol. IV Begins with telegram from Rees to the Queen; mostly very extensive formal correspondence concerned with Rees’ Presidency of he British Association in Monaco; invitations, notes, printed volume of Statutes of association from 1950, royal correspondence with Monaco and Britain. Volume 5: Basil Rees 4-5 1902 Vol II; William Basil Benwell Rees; Royal Navy ID card, British Forces, September 1943 – other material relating to Rees’ work as Duty Defence Officer at the Royal Navy Defence Base in Alexandria, HMS Nice. Volume begins in 1902 and includes Alexandria Dog Show, W B B Rees at Jesus College, Cambridge; Egypt NAAFI permits; lock of Basil Rees’ hair, aged 2 etc.

Alexandria / Monaco / etc., c. 1902 – 1967. Octavo. Half Morocco. Bindings stronger rubbed and slightly damaged.

14. [Cygnet Press / Hofer, Philip / Winship, George Parker] Matteo da Ferrara.

Vita de Sancto Hieronymo [with original manuscript letter by Philip Hofer, later Curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library, discussing his work at the [Pierpont] Morgan Library and the first product of Cygnet Press, “Vita de Sancto Hieronymo”, which he and George Parker Winship had produced 6 years earlier: “The little book which accompanies this note is one which George Parker Winship and I set by hand and printed a few years ago. It amused us, and, I hope, will amuse you. Of course we would do it differently now – that is always the way !”. The letter, on Hofer’s stationery with his address at 14 East Ninetieth Street, is addressed to one Dr. Collija in Stockholm, on June 25, 1934 and Hofer reminisces about the wonderful time he had there and how he wants to return to Sweden.

Cambridge (Massachusetts), Cygnet Press, MCMXXVIII [1928]. Small Octavo (13.3 cm x 17 cm). [35] pages. Original Hardcover with Label. Housed in its original, protective box from Cygnet Press. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only. The four-page-letter (on one sheet), signed by Philip Hofer in full.

15. [Cyprus Content] – Luke, Harry Charles.

[Manuscript Annotations in:] Uncorrected Proof Copy of “An Eastern Chequerboard” (without illustrations) / This is the ultimately corrected version with many manuscript annotations and corrections by Sir Harry Luke in pencil throughout [possibly for a second edition of this work which was never published because all these changes did not apply in the first printed edition]. Extensive and detailed corrections and annotations especially in the two Cyprus – Chapters “A Seaport in Cyprus” (Chapter III) and “Le Doux Pays de Chypre” (Chapter IV).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Lovat Dickson Ltd., 1934. 22 cm x 14,5 cm XII, 290, 1] pages lacking all 23 illustrations due to this book-block being Luke’s working proof-copy. Hardcover (private cloth). Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal working-copy. With annotations and markings by Harry Luke. Bumping to corners, fading to boards and spine. Otherwise in good condition.

16. [Cyprus Content] – Luke, Harry Charles / [Wilkins, Fraser – First Ambassador to Cyprus from the United States of America (USA) / Kennedy, John F. / JFK Assassination].

Manuscript (MLS) / Autographed letter (ALS) signed by Fraser Wilkins to Sir Harry Luke. The two-page-letter on mourning stationery of the “Embassy of the United States of America by Fraser Wilkins is a thank-you note to former british colonial officer, Sir Harry Luke, who had obviously sent condolences to the US-Embassy on Cyprus regarding the Assassination of JFK. Fraser Wilkins writes: “Dear Sir Harry – It was very thoughtful of you to write at this sad time. We had not realized that you were both in Kyrenia [Cyprus]. It is sad – not only for Mrs Kennedy & his family but also for our Country. There was so much more – as you indicate, which he might have done if he had not been cut down. Its maybe, as the ancient Greeks …said, that those whome the Gods love die young….Sincerely Fraser Wilkins”. Wilkins closes: “We hope to see you before too long!”

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Cyprus, December 2, 1963. Octavo. 2 pages. Very good condition with minor annoation on the letter in red ink by Sir Harry Luke, identifying Fraser Wilkins as “Ist US Ambassador to Cyprus”.

17. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins / Sir Malcolm Stevenson [Governor of Cyprus] / William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore / [Leo] L.S. Amery / etc.

Manuscript / Autographed Letter Signed (MLS / ALS), marked as “Private / Personal”, from Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins to Harry Luke while Luke was Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone. Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins writes in this embittered letter to Luke “I am very very grateful indeed for all you have done & your sympathy on my case….It is more than kind of you to write again to Sir Ronald Storrs in Cyprus…For he seems to be a honored minded & certainly most sympathetic man. What good he has already done in the old Island & I sincerely hope he will get the reward indeed he deserves….I am waiting and waiting for Justice…..so there is nothing for me but to express at all costs to me personally the ways & intrigues of the Cyprus department at the Colonial Office & the cowardly malice….of Cyprus Official (Governor to Staff of Secretary) 1920 to 1923 …..2 men are dead..[Fenn ?] & last week General Sir H[arold] Ruggles – Brise of the Officers Association but I hold the personal letters of the former & the Committees letters of the latter which proofs deliberate antagonisation to my ever getting employment. For what reason ? “Gore [that is William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech] & Stevenson [that is Sir Malcolm Stevenson] Ellis & ?” only Rumours [?]. This cruel treatment has ruined me + broken my home but I am not going under the ground without a Fight & by that I mean a real Fight & exposure. Amery [Leo / L.S.Amery [colonial secretary to Stevenson [governor, Cyprus] & Ormsby – Gore are infallible & they’re being grossly deceived by their permanent Staff….”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, June 27, 1927. 4 pages on one A4 folded sheet. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library.

18. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins.

Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) / Autographed Letter Signed (ALS) from Lieut.-Colonel A. C. Tompkins who congratulates Luke for his new posting in Malta and refers to the positive outcome for Luke from the Palestine Commission (regarding the Wailing-Wall-Incident from 1928): “My dear Luke, Hearty congratulations on what I read in The Evening Standard this evening. I heartily hope you will indeed get the reward & promotion you deserve. You must have had a interesting time, then & since, but you have come out as I knew you would “on top” …” Tompkins then goes on to talk again about his case of destitution at the end of his colonial career (see also Harry Luke item 31711AB): “I only wish in my small way, that I could get some justice + compensation either “in kind”, or in employment after 6 long years of struggling + patience but with the desperate sharks now, my patience is exhausted + I shall let go ‘la dernière Cartouche’ + if I can get a paper to accept it will expose the whole persecution + unsults I had to submit to under the “Stevenson-Fenn [John Cyril Douglas Fenn]” + “Clique’s” regime in Cyprus…..[….] – Yours sincerely, A.C.Tompkins”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Thursday, 12/VI/1930. Octavo. 3 pages on Octavo Bifold. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library.

19. [Cyprus Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Pursuit of Cyprus Posting by Harry Luke / Earl Curzon of Kedleston / Foreign Office / Admiral Sir John de Robeck /.

Significant, eight-page (8) Manuscript Letter Signed (MLS) from J.H.Luke to his son, Harry Luke, while Harry was posted with Admiral Sir John de Robeck in the Mediterranean. The letter also includes two important copies of typescripts, sent to Harry Luke’s father, J.H.Luke (at the St.James’ Club, Piccadilly) from the Foreign Office (directed by Earl Curzon of Kedleston). In urgent Telegrams, Luke had asked his father to help him “to ascertain from Colonial Office if my application for Chief Secretaryship, Cyprus, is likely to be successful and telegraph reply care of High Commissioner, Constantinople, as have meanwhile received offer of Assistant Governorship, Jerusalem, to which I must reply. Would prefer Cyprus”. In a second Telegram that day (28th of July, 1920), Luke writes again to hs father: “Please ask McMahon approach Amery as to succession Stevenson”. The lengthy letter of Luke senior is of great importance because it shows the ever recurring actions of Luke’s father regarding the career-progression of Sir Harry. From other correspondence we know that Luke senior takes a huge interest in his son being promoted to a significant position. From the letter we learn about Harry Luke’s chances to get the Cyprus-Position he so very much desires and about his excellent reputation at the Colonial Office. His father also writes to Harry: “How very kind of the Admiral [de Robeck] to send you to Cyprus in a Destroyer & dispatching that nice cable to Storrs” / An additional two typescrits are dealing with Luke’s publication “Handbook of Cyprus”: Daniel MacMillan had written to the father of Luke and asked for permission to “take down the type”, “Our present stock is 370 copies”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, 28th of July, 1920 – 4th of August, 2024. Octavo-Bifold. 8 pages of manuscript letter, 4 pages of typescripts. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal library.

20. [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.