A selection of rarities linked to the British statesman Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955, is on sale at collecting fair “The Winter Show 2024” which takes place these days and ends on January 28th in New York at the Park Avenue Armory center. This is the Winston S. Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, which is offered by London antiques dealer Peter Harrington. The selection on display, which is sold in individual lots, includes 25 rare books with autograph inscriptions of Churchill to crucial friends and companions in his personal, political and military life; a largely unpublished archive of correspondence from 1916, written while Churchill served in the trenches on the Western Front; a original oil painting by Churchill, “The Entrance to the Gorge at Todhra, Morocco”, created in the winter of 1935/36 and passed down through the statesman’s family (estimate $395,000); a photograph signed by Winston and Clementine Churchill, released on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary in September 1958, which shows the couple in front of the newspapers of the day; the iconic original portrait of Churchill painted in oil by Arthur Pan during the Second World War ($125,000). The centerpiece of Winston Churchill’s display at the New York fair, designed to resemble his office, is his personal desk from his home in Hyde Park Gate, the place where the former prime minister worked on the monumental works “The Second World War” and “History of the English-Speaking Peoples”. After his private office was converted into a bedroom, the desk ($450,000) remained next to his bed until his death in 1965.
(reuters)
“This extraordinary collection of original material on Winston Churchill, from the personal collection of Steve Forbes, represents one of the most significant collections we have dealt with in over 50 years of activity as sellers of rare books – declared Pom Harrington, owner of the Peter Harrington antiquarian bookshop in London – It is a true and its own testimony to what a private collector can achieve by combining decades of perseverance with the ability to seize every opportunity to acquire exceptional material.” Steve Forbes first heard about Churchill from his father, who had fought and been wounded in the Second World War. In the eighties Forbes has established himself as the leading Churchill collectorknowing the market thoroughly and often choosing the best material directly: thanks to his phenomenal reputation as a collector, many things were offered to him directly, avoiding all other collectors and public sale.
(reuters)
“The collection represents an abundance of riches,” Harrington said. «Rare copies of books that connect the dots of a life that changed history, such as the presentation of ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli to Lord Beaverbrook, and the original typescripts of the Second World War report by Churchill himself, largely corrected by his own hand, and never before put on sale to the public.”
Also for sale are revised proofs of “The Second World War”, with extensive corrections in Churchill’s hand, together with original typescripts, many with Churchill corrections, and other very important research materials used for the preparation of the work. Coming from the papers of Churchill’s most important assistant and literary collaborator, William (Bill) Deakin, the lot is offered at $750,000. Also on display: the first edition of ‘The Story of the Malakand Field Force’, with dedication to Churchill’s valet and companion of many years (£47,500); a presentation copy of ‘Savrola’, written by Churchill to his military mentor and friend Ian Hamilton at Ladysmith (£47,500); a copy of the second, and only, edition of the extremely rare “Mr. Brodrick’s Army” ($150,000); a first and only edition of the rare “For Free Trade” ($150,000); an important sequence of letters signed by Churchill while serving on the Western Front, in which he plots the removal of the Prime Minister in the shadow of Gallipoli (£75,000); a presentation copy of “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli with a dedication to Lord Beaverbrook, whose newspaper “Daily Express” had an enormous influence on English public opinion (32,500 dollars); a copy of “Into Battle”, with dedication by Churchill and letter sending the book to Pamela Plowden, Countess of Lytton, Churchill’s first love and lifelong friend (£12,500).