4 Vol Set, 1st Editions, Signed by the Author Winston Churchill plus Letters, Cards, Telegrams

Author: Winston S. Churchill
First editions, First impressions
Publisher: London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1956–58

4 volumes, octavo. Original dark red cloth, titles gilt to spines, red top-stain. With the dust jackets. All volumes illustrated with maps and genealogical tables. Some light foxing, top-stain variably faded, damage to back side of the dust jacket on vol II (see pic) otherwise very good in slightly worn dust jackets.

Vols. I and II identically inscribed: “To Dr. Roberts from Winston S. Churchill, Christmas 1956”
Vol. III with a printed facsimile holograph compliments slip: “With all good wishes Winston S. Churchill”;
Vol. IV inscribed: “To David Myrddin Roberts from Winston S. Churchill, March 1958.”

Accompanied by:

• Three Christmas cards (featuring paintings by WSC) from Winston and Clementine sent to Dr Roberts, one of them signed by Clementine Spencer-Churchill (after Churchill’s death)
• A short typed letter, dated 5 December 1957, on 28 Hyde Park Gate stationery signed by Winston Churchill
• A two-page hand-written letter signed by Clementine Churchill, dated 2 April 1958, addressed to Mrs. Riley, Dr. Roberts’ mother-in-law, together with the original envelope
• Two telegrams to Dr Roberts, one from Clementine in 1962, and one from Winston in 1964
  

According to Martin Gilbert, the official Churchill Biographer, Dr Roberts retired from the RAF with a disability pension. He resided in Monte Carlo where he was given permission to treat patients as long as they were British. In the summer of 1949 Churchill was staying at Lord Beaverbrook’s Villa, La Capponcina, while working on vol. IV of The Second World War. One evening, while playing cards Churchill fell ill; Dr Roberts was called the next day and determined that Churchill had suffered a stroke. From then on Dr Roberts was frequently called to consult on minor ailments whenever Churchill went to the Riviera. The inscriptions in vol. I, vol. II & vol. IV of The History of the English Speaking People’s listed here are all to Dr Roberts. A printed facsimile holograph compliments slip is loosely inserted in the third vol.

In 1958 Churchill spent the day on Aristotle Onassis’s yacht, drinking end playing chemin-de-fer until late. The following day Dr Roberts was summoned because Churchill was unwell with a fever and cough. Dr Roberts diagnosed bronchial pneumonia, soon to be compounded by obstructive jaundice. Again, Roberts’s presence was of great help, both professionally and in terms of morale. The letter from Clementine Churchill to Mrs Riley, (Dr Roberts’ mother-in-law) expresses her gratitude for Dr. Roberts’ help with Churchill’s illness as well as thanking her for a birthday gift she’d recently received.

The copy of vol. III from 1957 has a facsimile compliments slip inserted, but vol. IV, inscribed in March 1958, at the height of Churchill’s illness, has an atypical inscription including Roberts’s unusual middle name. Is there a hint here of an in-joke of some sort, of the camaraderie of doctor and patient.

When Churchill fell in his hotel room in Monte Carlo in 1962, breaking his hip Dr Roberts was again called:

“Howells [Churchill’s male nurse] telephoned at once to Dr. Roberts, who arranged for Churchill to be X-rayed with portable apparatus in the hotel. He was then taken to Monaco hospital, where an extensive plaster cast was applied.” (Gilbert p. 1335)

Churchill was flown back to England on 29 June, and just three days later Clementine sent Roberts a telegram: “Thank you Dear Doctor Roberts for all your skill and care am thankful that my husband is making good progress.” The second of the two telegrams is an extremely poignant one, dated 3 December 1964. It clearly relates to birthday greetings sent by Roberts for Churchill’s 90th: “Thank you so much all good wishes. Winston S Churchill“. Churchill died a month later on January 24, 1965.

A splendid group of books and documents outlining Churchill’s high regard for Dr. Roberts. The Churchills’ clearly thought very highly of Dr. Roberts, but it is a relationship which is difficult to fully document, because, as Gilbert remarks, “Unlike Lord Moran, [Roberts] kept no diary.“

Woods A138(a)
Cohen A267.1

Item #115