News

_____________________

Thursday FEBRUARY 28, 2009

THE PRESIDENT, THE P.M. and The Book

A Nugget of Behind-the-Scenes Diplomatic History

Perhaps you are aware of the stir our new President caused when he returned to the British government a bust of Winston Churchill that, in the immediate wake of September 11, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair had presented as a sign of solidarity to then-President Bush. Officially this bronze bust, sculpted by Sir Jacob Epstein, was "on loan" to the White House, where President Bush kept it in a place of honor in the Oval Office. Upon his departure, Bush left the bust behind. His successor, President Obama, decided it should be returned, replacing it in the Oval Office with a bust of Abraham Lincoln.

The resulting outrage in Great Britain received very little coverage here in the U.S. Cut to the morning of 26 February, 2009, a Thursday. The telephone rings at Chartwell Booksellers and Sir Martin Gilbert is on the line. Current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be coming to Washington this Tuesday for his first official meeting with President Obama, says Sir Martin, and he has asked for a suggestion of an appropriate Churchill-related gift that he might bring to the new President. A complete First Edition set of Sir Martin and Randolph Churchill's eight-volume official biography, signed by Sir Martin, would be perfect, we replied; the President-elect is known to read voraciously. Sir Martin concurred. He had a set on hand that he could give to the P.M. immediately. But, he added, it was missing Volume V.

We, of course, offered to remedy this, gladly. Sir Martin alerted the P.M.'s staff. We shipped off a copy of Volume V to a waiting operative at the British Consulate in Washington in time for the book to be added to the set for the P.M.'s meeting with the President. All was well.

Then, on the appointed Tuesday morning, emails began to appear in our inbox, emails such as this one:

"In today's Mail Online, the story of PM Brown's visit to the White House today is discussed and the following statement appears: "Mr. Brown arrived laden with gifts, including a seven volume, first-edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's biography of Winston Churchill." I've tried to identify the set but can find no trace of it. Do you know anything about this and will it be available for sale in the U.S.?"

Apparently an advance press release had simply counted the books on hand. We checked newspapers of the world online. Every one of them reiterated the same inaccuracy: "Sir Martin Gilbert's seven volume biography."

Frantically, we telephoned our British Consulate contact in D.C. Yes, she reassured us, the book arrived in time and she had turned it over to "the Number 10 people." President Obama had indeed been handed a complete eight volume set.

Answer to the trivia question: Which volume of the official Churchill biography supplied by Chartwell Booksellers made it to President Obama's historic first meeting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain but not into the official record of the event?

Now you know.

_______________________

 Thursday DECEMBER 11, 2008

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Features CHURCHILL at CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS

"Selling the Myriad Products of Churchill's Toil and Sweat," by Joanne Kaufman, in the December 11, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal, profiled the history and development of Chartwell Booksellers on the occasion of the store's 25th anniversary.

"According to proprietor Barry Singer, Chartwell, which is now in its 25th anniversary year, is the world's largest dealer in Churchill materials -- books, photographs, signed documents and ephemera. There's even a Toby jug or two.

"Out-of-print collectible copies of Sir Winston's 34-book oeuvre, many of them first editions, line the back shelves of the store, which is tucked into the arcade of Park Avenue Plaza, an office building on East 52nd Street.”

The article highlighted some of the store's more notable clients, including Henry Kissinger, Caspar Weinberger, and Rudolph Giuliani:

"In the first few days after 9/11," continued Mr. Singer, "Rudy kept holding up this book 'Five Days in London,' which was written by John Lukacs about Churchill just after he became prime minister and the Nazis were bombing the hell out of London and his own people were pressing him to make peace with Germany and get out of the war. Rudy said 'this is what I'm reading to get through the crisis.' At the time we sold that book hugely."

> READ THE FULL ARTICLE