To say that Chartwell Booksellers has a specific literary focus would be something of an understatement. The independent bookstore located at midtown Manhattan in New York is devoted solely to selling books, magazines and the personal effects of Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s most noted personalities.
Named after Winston Churchill’s home town in the county of Kent, South East England, Chartwell Booksellers opened 34 years ago as a manifestation of the passion of owner Barry Singer for the life and works of Sir Winston Churchill, who had an illustrious political career and is perhaps best known for leading Great Britain through the dark days of the Second World War. Prime Minister of the UK on two occasions, from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955, Churchill was the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his lifetime body of work.
Chartwell retails a selection of Winston Churchill souvenirs and gifts, but its prime business is the selling of his published works. The great statesman left behind approximately 40 books, which have been republished more than 8,000 times by international printing houses in many languages.
The dedicated bookseller’s inventory features more than 800 titles that address the personality of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, some of which are limited edition and others signed by Churchill himself. Its catalogue also comprises original manuscripts of his books, one of which is priced at USD 185,000.