40TH READINGS AT CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS

The eighth and final volume of the Official Churchill Biography, NEVER DESPAIR (1945-1965),’ by Sir Martin Gilbert, was published in 1988, a culminating event that we celebrated with the author in a publishing party at the store. Begun by Churchill’s son Randolph (Volumes I and II), The Official Biography was completed (Volumes III-VIII) by Sir Martin Gilbert, whose great achievement it remains; the ultimate source work about Winston Churchill, and the longest biography ever published (the actual Guinness record holder).  We sadly lost Sir Martin, one of Chartwell Booksellers’ greatest friends and an inspiration to the store always, in 2015. We are honored to have his widow, ESTHER, LADY GILBERT, as our guest reader for NEVER DESPAIR.

Lady Mary Soames, Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, was a friend of Chartwell Booksellers from our inception. She dropped in often when she was in town, always unannounced, to check on sales of her books and sign copies. She was utterly down to earth and altogether charming. Her first authored work was a biography of her mother, CLEMENTINE CHURCHILL, which came out in 1979, four years before we opened. We have carried it continuously ever after. She followed this with a delightfully offbeat biography of the Churchill family’s most dissolute ancestor, THE PROFLIGATE DUKE:George Spencer Churchill, Fifth Duke of Marlborough, and his Duchess,  published in 1987, our fifth year of existence. It is the next book in our 40th Readings at Chartwell Booksellers video series, as read by her son, Rupert Soames.

In 1986, Sir Martin Gilbert published ROAD TO VICTORY (1941-1945), the seventh volume of his Official Churchill Biography; a great occasion that we marked with a publishing party at the store for the book and for Sir Martin.  Begun by Churchill’s son, Randolph (Volumes I and II), The Official Biography was completed (Volumes III-VIII) by Sir Martin Gilbert, whose great achievement it remains — the ultimate source work about Winston Churchill and the longest biography ever written (the actual Guinness record holder). We sadly lost Sir Martin in 2015 — one of Chartwell Booksellers’ greatest friends and an inspiration to the store always. We are honored to have his widow as our next guest reader, ESTHER, LADY GILBERT, for ROAD TO VICTORY. ROAD TO VICTORY (1941-1945) commences with Winston Churchill learning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and concludes with his celebration of V-E Day in London on May 8, 1945, and the end of the war in Europe. It is the first of two volumes of The Official Biography that we were privileged to premiere at Chartwell Booksellers.

In 1985, Sir John Colville, Winston Churchill’s wartime Private Secretary, finally agreed  to the release of his never-intended-for-publication personal diaries. THE FRINGES OF POWER: 10 Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955 instantly became a classic and one of our earliest best-sellers. It remains so; a seminal work of Churchillian historical scholarship.  We are honored to present actor Daniel Gerroll reading the opening entries from Sir John Colville’s THE FRINGES OF POWER.

The most important book about Winston Churchill published in 1984, our second year of existence, was an encyclopedic three-volume set, CHURCHILL & ROOSEVELT: THE COMPLETE CORRESPONDENCE, edited by WARREN F. KIMBALL. We are delighted to present Mr. KIMBALL himself reading the opening exchanges from his monumental work of epistolary scholarship. On October 3, 1984, Chartwell Booksellers hosted its first-ever in-store Churchill event, a publication party for CHURCHILL & ROOSEVELT: THE COMPLETE CORRESPONDENCE and its editor, WARREN F. KIMBALL. The party coincided with the first exhibition of Churchilliana ever mounted here at Chartwell Booksellers — “Churchill at Chartwell,” a lavish window display series that filled the Park Avenue Plaza arcade with “Churchill First Editions, Autograph Letters, Photographs & Ephemera” for the first time. Since then, we have exhibited literally hundreds of Churchillian rarities, but CHURCHILL & ROOSEVELT: THE COMPLETE CORRESPONDENCE will always remind us of the first. WARREN F. KIMBALL is a historian of the Second World War and American foreign policy. A graduate of Georgetown University, he was an academic adviser to the Churchill Centre in London and taught at Rutgers University. He is author of THE JUGGLER: Franklin Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman and FORGED IN WAR: Roosevelt, Churchill and The Second World War.