This Item Has Been Sold

TYPED LETTER SIGNED 11 Days After Churchill’s Near-Fatal NYC Traffic Accident

“…I have now definitely sold the special article on my accident...”

1931

1-page (10 1/2 x 8 inches)

Item Number: 19479

Description

Typed letter on Waldorf-Astoria letterhead, dated December 24, 1931, to Than von Ranck, an editor at William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal American:

I have to let you know that I have now definitely sold the special article on my accident, and this matter must be considered closed.
I shall hope to see you early next week upon the question of a series of articles. I ought, however, to tell you that I am in treaty for a series of 12, which, of course, would suit me much better than the 6 which were mentioned tentatively in our discussion.
I shall be well enough to see you early in the week, when we can talk things over.
Yours truly,
Winston S. Churchill

Late in the evening of December 13, 1931, while visiting New York City, Winston Churchill took a taxi to his friend Bernard Baruch’s Fifth Avenue apartment for an after-dinner get-together. Annoyed that he and his driver could not find the address, Churchill stepped out into the two-way Fifth Avenue traffic, looked left, and was struck by a passing car on his right. Had he not been wearing a thick, fur-lined overcoat, Churchill might well have been killed. Instead, he suffered a fractured nose and ribs, a three-inch cut on his forehead and severe shock. He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he developed pleurisy.
His convalescence would last nearly two months. Yet, within less than two weeks of the accident, Churchill already was at work wringing profit from it, as this letter eloquently attests.

The letter is in excellent condition, with the standard fold marks, a faint paperclip shadow at the upper left corner and a minute chip at the upper right.