1983
March 7
Pre-opening “Talk of the Town” profile about Chartwell Booksellers appears in The New Yorker.
March 10
April 11
Chartwell Booksellers officially opens its doors in the arcade at Park Avenue Plaza.
April 20
August 1
October 19
October 25
November 29
First in-store reading: Mark Helprin reads from his new novel, A Winter’s Tale.
December 1
1984
February 28
May 7
September 12
October 3
October 24
Body Double, a new film by Brian DePalma, premieres with an afterparty at Chartwell Booksellers.
December 6
Reception and wine tasting celebrate the publication of The Book of California Wine.
1985
January 9
The Golden Age of Movie Posters opens, an exhibition of rare vintage movie posters.
May 15
June 15
Scripophily opens, an exhibition of rare, antique stock and bond certificates.
September 1
Portraits and Photojournalism opens, an exhibition of original prints by photographers Giselle Freund, W. Eugene Smith and Frederic Ohringer.
December 1
1986
March 1
March 26
Masullo opens, an exhibition of mixed media book constructions by the artist Andrew Masullo.
April 1
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers is inaugurated with the novel, In Country, by Bobbie Ann Mason.
Guest Reader: Elizabeth McGovern.
May 28
June 9
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents Waking the Dead, by Scott Spencer.
Guest Reader: Judd Nelson, with Matthew Penn and Ava Haddad.
June 12
Chartwell Booksellers launches a series of ads in The New York Review of Books.
June 30
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents Slaves of New York, by Tama Janowitz.
Guest Reader: Caitlin Clarke, with Tom Cayler.
July 1
Artists Observed opens, an exhibition of portraits by photographer Harvey Stein.
October 1
November 3
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents Drunk with Love, by Ellen Gilchrist.
Guest Readers: Brooke Adams and David Alan Grier.
December 1
Trains Unlimited opens, a new holiday exhibition of vintage model trains.
December 8
The second season of Holiday Tea at Three begins, with performances by Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks.
December 12
1987
February 1
March 3
March 23
The entire Kafka’s Grave exhibition of 19 Ickovic prints is sold to one customer.
April 27
July 15
Dog Days opens, an exhibition of street photography by Richard Sandler.
August 3
September 17
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents Storming the Magic Kingdom, by John Taylor.
Guest Readers: Stanley P. Gold, Irwin L. Jacobs and Robert B. Hodes.
September 29
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents That Night, by Alice McDermott.
Guest Reader: Judith Ivey, with Elizabeth Berridge.
October 5
Portraits of the 50’s opens, an exhibition of photographs by Sanford Roth.
December 1
Third season of Holiday Tea at Three begins, with performances by Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks.
1988
February 1
April 4
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents To Dwell in Peace, by Daniel Berrigan.
Guest Readers: Martin Sheen and Edward Herrmann, with Daniel Berrigan.
April 11
Chartwell Booksellers celebrates its 5th Anniversary with an ad in Avenue magazine.
September 1
Rebuilding the House that Ruth Built opens, an exhibition of Yankee Stadium photographs by Ross Lewis.
September 30
December 3
1989
February 5
Pianist Bobby Pratt inaugurates daily lunch hour piano performances at Park Avenue Plaza.
February 27
The Fine Press Book opens, an exhibition of the handmade book arts.
June 17
September 12
Painted Ballparks opens, an exhibition of baseball stadium lithographs.
October 16
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents The Passion by Jeanette Winterson.
Guest Reader: Kate Nelligan, with Frank Whaley.
November 8
Reception for Martin Gilbert celebrates the publication of The Second World War: A Complete History.
November 15
Eudora in Photographs opens, an exhibition of writer Eudora Welty’s photographic art.
December 2
December 12
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents “An Evening with Winston Churchill – Readings from his Speeches and Early Writings.”
Guest Readers: Alec Baldwin and Daniel Gerroll.
1990
March 12
October 30
Film Goddesses: Rare Movie Posters from the Motion Picture Arts Gallery opens.
November 29
December 1
1991
January 15
Frederic Ohringer: Flower Photographs opens.
April 18
April 20
Saturday Afternoon Tea Dances continue with The James Chirillo Quintet.
May 29
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin.
Guest Reader: Donald Moffat.
June 3
June 17
Paul Ickovic: Photographs opens, the debut exhibition for Chartwell’s upper mezzanine gallery space.
October 30
November 14
December 7
-Buck Clayton dies at home, following his band’s appearance at Park Avenue Plaza.-
1992
January 25
The New York Times Sunday Style Page publishes “Tea’s Free, Music’s Hot: Wouldn’t Any Fix Trot?” an article about Saturday Afternoon Tea Dances at Chartwell Booksellers.
June 15
June 17
July 27
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents 1959, by Thulani Davis, in a benefit for the Bookstore Relief Fund of Los Angeles.
Guest Readers: Gregory Hines, George C. Wolfe, Tonya Pinkins and Keith David.
November 25
More Jazz Photographs from the Frank Driggs Collection opens in the arcade gallery.
December 1
December 5
December 8
Harold Roth: New York Photographs 1939-1950 opens in the mezzanine gallery.
December 14
1993
February 24
April 20
Open house celebrates the Tenth Anniversary of Chartwell Booksellers.
May 1
Paris in the Twenties opens, an exhibition of “Newsreel Portraits” created from vintage newsreel footage.
December 4
1994
April 26
September 26
December 1
Look at the Land opens, an exhibition of “Aerial Reflections on America” by photographer Alex MacLean.
December 4
Tenth season of Holiday Tea at Three begins, featuring performances by Tess Marsalis and the Holiday Tea at Three Orchestra.
1995
February 13
Home and Away: Children of the 52nd Street Project opens, an exhibition of photographs by Stephanie Berger.
May 1
Hugh Bell: Photographs opens, an exhibition of original prints by this noted photojournalist.
August 6
A scene from the film Substance of Fire is shot at Chartwell Booksellers.
October 19
The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff opens.
November 1
Reception for Winston Churchill’s granddaughter Celia Sandys celebrates the publication of The Young Churchill, with a reading by Ms. Sandys.
December 2
1996
June 10
Rodeo and Other Photographs by Arthur Bacon opens in the arcade gallery.
Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian opens in the mezzanine gallery.
December 7
Eleventh season of Holiday Tea at Three begins, featuring performances by The Park Avenue Plaza Holiday Swing Orchestra, with special guests Sol Yaged and Doc Cheatham.
1997
July
October 16
November 19
December 7
Twelfth and final season of Holiday Tea at Three begins, featuring small group performances led by Chuck Folds and featuring Joe Muranyi, Dick Katz, Dick Sudhalter, Spanky Davis and Jordan Sandke.
1998
February 1
The Jazz Photographs of Bob Parent exhibition opens.
November 1
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents Turbulent Souls by Stephen J. Dubner.
Guest Reader: The Author.
November 2
Coltrane in Photographs by Chuck Stewart opens, an exhibition of original prints by the legendary jazz photographer who photographed John Coltrane more often than anyone else.
1999
April 20
June 24
1st Readings at Chartwell Booksellers presents a sampler of Saki (Hector Hugh Munro).
Guest Reader: Daniel Gerroll
October 5
Reception for Winston Churchill, the grandson, celebrates the publication of The Great Republic.
2000
February 14
Reception for Churchill granddaughter Celia Sandys celebrates the publication of Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive, with a lecture by the author.
May
The Library Series opens, an exhibition of photographs by Fawn Potash.
December 4
2001
February 16
Photographs from Ken Burns’ Jazz! opens, an exhibition of original photographs used in the landmark PBS documentary.
April 1
Bruce Cratsley: Photographs opens, a posthumous retrospective exhibition for this important street photographer.
2002
November 12
Ben Ross: In The Sky and Among the Stars opens, an exhibition of vintage photographs by Ben Ross.
2003
February 20
Mapping History, a lecture by Martin Gilbert, celebrates the re-issue of his Atlases of History series, as well as the publication of his newest book, The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust.
June 2
November 10
A Churchill Family Reading celebrates the publication of Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, (selected) by his grandson, Winston S. Churchill; and Chasing Churchill: The Travels of Winston Churchill, by his granddaughter Celia Sandys, in a joint reading. The evening is introduced by a third Churchill grandchild, Edwina Sandys.
December 3
Memory and Light: Photographs by Claude Furones opens.
2004
October 4
April 1
Joyce Tenneson: Flower Portraits opens.
2005
May 10
Hank Gans: At the Water’s Edge opens.
October 11
Reception for Sir Martin Gilbert celebrates the publication of Churchill and America.
December 1
2006
July 12
An Exhibition of Framed Churchill Rarities curated by Chartwell Booksellers opens at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
2007
March 29
Color Absorbed opens, a new exhibition of photographs by Claude Furones.
September 10
November 19
2008
February 13
Reception for Slate columnist Fred Kaplan celebrates the publication of Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power.
April 14
Chartwell Booksellers celebrates its 25th Anniversary with an in-store bash featuring author Mark Helprin, guest readers Judith Ivey, Brooke Adams and Daniel Gerroll reprising their original 1st Readings appearances, a buffet supper by chef Neil Kleinberg, and music by Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks
2010
October 25
November 18
2011
December 2
2012
May 2
2013
April 10
[THE LIBRARY SERIES] opens, an exhibition of book photographs by Fawn Potash.
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