ALBERT LUTHULI - ORIGINAL SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH

A postcard sized (image 15.5x11cms.) black and white/light sepia image of Chief Albert Luthuli, twice signed by him (A.J. Lutuli) in blue ink on the image and dated in his hand 2/11/1961. The portrait shows Luthuli holding the telegram which announced his award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1960. The fact that there are two signatures, one above the other, is interesting. Possibly he was not happy with the quality of his first attempt and so he signed it again.

The reverse of the photograph is rubber stamped "Copyright Photograph supplied by The Natal Mercury, Devonshire Place, Durban". There are a couple of light creases and a small mark at the top of the image where a paper clip had been placed, but generally the photograph is in very good condition. 

Luthuli autograph material on the market is exceedingly scarce. In my 50 or more years in the book business, I have only encountered two other Luthuli autograph items, one of which is in my personal collection. I am led to believe that he hardly ever signed photographs. The image on offer is dated the 2nd. November 1961, the month before he went to Oslo to receive his Prize. I would venture to guess that Luthuli's autograph is amongst the scarcest of all the Nobel Laureates. 

Albert Luthuli was South Africa's first Nobel Peace Laureate, to be followed much later by Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk. Chief of his tribe and president-general of the African National Congress, Albert John Luthuli  (1898 - July 21, 1967)   was the leader of ten million black Africans in their nonviolent campaign for civil rights in South Africa. A man of noble bearing, charitable, intolerant of hatred, and adamant in his demands for equality and peace among all men, Lutuli forged a philosophical compatibility between two cultures - the Zulu culture of his native Africa and the Christian-democratic culture of Europe.