Beschreibung:

CHURCHILL, Winston S. Eighteen letters by Churchill, comprising two autograph letters signed and sixteen letters signed, to Norman Brook (later Lord Normanbrook), 10 Downing Street, 28 Hyde Park Gate, Chartwell, The Middlesex Hospital, 22 August 1950 - 4 December 1964 and n.d., 3 pages, 8vo in autograph and 2 pages, 8vo and 13 pages, 4to, typewritten , 2 autograph envelopes signed, pasted or tipped into an album, with other material including three letters from Clementine Churchill, photographs of the Brooks with the Churchills at Chartwell, and papers relating to Churchill's funeral, half red morocco, lettered on spine 'W.S.C. and N.C.B.' (spotting); and Norman Brook, a lockable notebook recording 'Unconsidered Sayings of W.S,.C.' on Tito, Clement Attlee, foreign affairs and other topics, with notes on Mackenzie King, Balfour, Oliver Stanley and others, and letters from Clementine Churchill (4), Attlee, Harold Macmillan (6), black roan (worn).
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Eighteen letters by Churchill, comprising two autograph letters signed and sixteen letters signed, to Norman Brook (later Lord Normanbrook), 10 Downing Street, 28 Hyde Park Gate, Chartwell, The Middlesex Hospital, 22 August 1950 - 4 December 1964 and n.d., 3 pages, 8vo in autograph and 2 pages, 8vo and 13 pages, 4to, typewritten , 2 autograph envelopes signed, pasted or tipped into an album, with other material including three letters from Clementine Churchill, photographs of the Brooks with the Churchills at Chartwell, and papers relating to Churchill's funeral, half red morocco, lettered on spine 'W.S.C. and N.C.B.' (spotting); and Norman Brook, a lockable notebook recording 'Unconsidered Sayings of W.S,.C.' on Tito, Clement Attlee, foreign affairs and other topics, with notes on Mackenzie King, Balfour, Oliver Stanley and others, and letters from Clementine Churchill (4), Attlee, Harold Macmillan (6), black roan (worn). Private letters from Churchill to his Cabinet Secretary. The first sends thanks for help with The Second World War ('The reconstruction of the SUSPENSE AND STRAIN chapter was a masterpiece') and reflects Churchill's gloom at the state of post-war Europe -- 'I am continually oppressed by the sense of the perils which surround us now'. Several letters offer congratulations or thanks, reflecting the close relationship between the Prime Minister and the linchpin of his cabinet administration: on 14 May 1953 Churchill writes that he is recommending Brook for a Privy Counsellorship, and on 22 June 1954 for an honorary degree at Bristol University; an undated letter of the same year offers thanks for Brook's 'very great help ... with my statement n the Hydrogen Bomb'. Two letters, one during Brook's illness in September 1954, convey Churchill's reliance on him. On Brook's impending retirement in 1963 'an irreplaceable part has been taken from the machinery of government'. Following his own retirement, Churchill expresses his confidence in his replacement (Anthony Eden), noting 'The stability of Britain plays a great part in the stability of the world'. Norman Craven Brook, Baron Normanbrook (1903-1967) was Secretary of the Cabinet from 1947 to 1962, combining the post from 1956 with those of joint Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and head of the Home Civil Service. An exceptionally able administrator, he believed in the importance of self-effacing and minimalist administration. Churchill valued Normanbrook highly for his 'wisdom and diligence' and found his company 'so agreeable that he elected him to the Other Club, the highest personal honour he could confer' (Colville. Diaries (1985), page 635). (2)