Habib Lotfallah

approximately 203 pages of MANUSCRIPTS (including the last will of Hussein bin Ali, Sherif of Mecca) and printed documents, envelopes, newspaper extracts, cheques issued by the Hedjaz Bank, and photographs (including King Faisal I of Iraq, King Abdullah of Transjordan, and a group photograph including Prince Fasial and T.E. Lawrence), some overall wear

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

SIGNED AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION ON WORLD PEACE BY KING FAISAL I, in Arabic and dated 4 April 1931, which translates as 'Nations, especially the big ones, must forget their animosity and selfishness and strive to achieve one goal - World Peace; otherwise humanity is doomed to destruction!' This was written for the Committee of the World League for Peace (Ligue Mondiale pour la Paix) for a book of quotations on global peace edited by Georges Dejean (Pax Mundi: Livre D'Or de La Paix, Geneva, 1932).
AN IMPORTANT ARCHIVE REVEALING THE WORKINGS OF THE ARABIAN NATIONAL BANK OF THE HEJAZ  AND THEIR DEALINGS WITH THE HASHEMITE KINGS IN THE CRUCIAL YEARS AFTER THE ARAB REVOLT WHEN THE MAP OF THE MIDDLE EAST WAS BEING RADICALLY REDRAWN.
The 1920s and 1930s were a time of transition of power thoughout the Arab world. Monetary support for this change was largely channelled through Lotfallahs' pioneering financial institution, the Arabian National Bank of Hejaz, the aim of which was to unify the Arab world with a uniform currency.

Habib Lotfallah (1826-1920) founded a mortgage bank, and his business dealings encompassed interests in the Levant, Egypt, Sudan and India. In 1920 Habib Lotfallah Pasha was given the title of "Amir" (Prince) by King Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif and Emir of Mecca - a title officially bestowed in recognition for the support he had provided to charitable projects and for his ideological support for the Arab Independence. Habib Lotfallah's son continued the business dealings of his father, together with his two brothers. Habib Lotfallah, like his father, supported King Hussein’s dreams to promote all Arab nations as one country or under a single federation, and thus, the Lotfallahs were very close to the Hashemite kings. As a diplomat, Habib Lotfallah represented his King at the League of Nations as the only real power in Arabia (the Hedjaz had been one of the twenty-seven "Allied and Associated Powers" to be represented at Versailles); one letter in the present archive, dated 1931, attests to his participation in these conferences.

In order to promote Arab unity, Lotfallah established the Arabian National Bank of Hejaz, the aim of which was to issue a uniform currency in the Arab world. The majority of the letters in this archive bear the letterhead of the bank. - The material suggests that the reason for granting Lotfallah the title "Emir" in 1920 may have been the fact that the family had provided enormous loans to Hussein to support his ambition to be the King of all Arabs ("malik bilad-al-Arab"), as well as to his sons.

The Emirate of Transjordan, for example, was a British protectorate established in April 1921, ruled by Emir Abdullah, elder son of Britain's wartime ally Sharif Hussein of Mecca. In a letter from this archive, dated 15 ragjab 1339 (30 April 1921), Habib Lotfallah instructed Sheikh Salama El Zeikrat to pay 8000 Egyptian Pounds (around £400,000 in modern currency) to the army in Ma’an (Transjordan) under the command of Abdullah.

Two days after the Turkish Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 3 March 1924, Hussein declared himself Caliph at his son Abdullah's winter camp in Shunah, Transjordan. So as to finance the counter-offensive against Ibn Saud, Hussein and his son required ever-increasing sums of money. In 1925, during this difficult period, a mysterious figure appears: Iskander F[aragallah] Trad Bey, financial agent in Alexandria to King Hussein and his sons. Trad Bey sought to persuade the Americans to "intervene" in the struggle now raging between prince Ali, son of King Hussein of the Hedjaz, and Ibn Saud; in return for this intervention and a loan of £1,000,000, the United States was to receive concessions for all the minerals in the Hedjaz, including petroleum.

Ibn Saud claimed he had discovered documents proving that Ali had sold the country to foreigners in those dark months under siege at Jidda (cf. Kramer, below). Ten letters in this archive, addressed to Trad Faragallah Bey, shed further light on his dealings with the Hashemite kings and the Lotfallah brothers. From a court document from the Tribunal Mixte in Alexandria, dated 14 January 1930, we learn that King Hussein and his sons owed the Lotfallah brothers and the Hedjaz bank more then 195,000 Egyptian pounds (including interest) – a staggering sum of nearly 10 million British pounds.

Another recurring person among these documents is John Langdon Rees, a British resident in Izmir. The Rees's were an influential merchant family in the Levant, and John was director of the board of the New Egypt & Levant Shipping Co Ltd, Alexandria. The Lotfallahs continuously dealt with him to purchase debts which King Hussein was to pay to Rees. Also, there are documents in connection with Fouad Abaza Bey of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt. Abaza acted as agent for King Hussein and was accused by Lotfallah (in a telegram dated 26 May 1930) of failing to act in the best interest of Al Bin Hussein. On 18 June 1930, Abaza responds that he has informed Emir Zeid of all events concerning the sale of King Hussein's property, accusing Lotfallah of lying. There is a wealth of correspondence between Habib and George Lotfallah and Hussein and his sons and grandsons (Abdallah, Ali, Ghazi, Zeid) up to 1938. Bey).

Further reading: Martin Kramer, Shaykh Maraghi’s Mission to the Hijaz, 1925, (Asian and African Studies, Haifa), vol.16, no.1, March 1982, pp.121-136)