Perhaps you are aware of the stir our new President caused when he returned to the British government a bust of Winston Churchill that, in the immediate wake of September 11, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair had presented as a sign of solidarity to then-President Bush. Officially this bronze bust, sculpted by Sir Jacob Epstein, was "on loan" to the White House, where President Bush kept it in a place of honor in the Oval Office. Upon his departure, Bush left the bust behind. His successor, President Obama, decided it should be returned, replacing it in the Oval Office with a bust of Abraham Lincoln.

The resulting outrage in Great Britain received very little coverage here in the U.S. Cut to the morning of 26 February, 2009, a Thursday. The telephone rings at Chartwell Booksellers and Sir Martin Gilbert is on the line. Current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be coming to Washington this Tuesday for his first official meeting with President Obama, says Sir Martin, and he has asked for a suggestion of an appropriate Churchill-related gift that he might bring to the new President. A complete First Edition set of Sir Martin and Randolph Churchill's eight-volume official biography, signed by Sir Martin, would be perfect, we replied; the President-elect is known to read voraciously. Sir Martin concurred. He had a set on hand that he could give to the P.M. immediately. But, he added, it was missing Volume V.

We, of course, offered to remedy this, gladly. Sir Martin alerted the P.M.'s staff. We shipped off a copy of Volume V to a waiting operative at the British Consulate in Washington in time for the book to be added to the set for the P.M.'s meeting with the President. All was well.

Then, on the appointed Tuesday morning, emails began to appear in our inbox, emails such as this one:

"In today's Mail Online, the story of PM Brown's visit to the White House today is discussed and the following statement appears: "Mr. Brown arrived laden with gifts, including a seven volume, first-edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's biography of Winston Churchill." I've tried to identify the set but can find no trace of it. Do you know anything about this and will it be available for sale in the U.S.?"

Apparently an advance press release had simply counted the books on hand. We checked newspapers of the world online. Every one of them reiterated the same inaccuracy: "Sir Martin Gilbert's seven volume biography."

Frantically, we telephoned our British Consulate contact in D.C. Yes, she reassured us, the book arrived in time and she had turned it over to "the Number 10 people." President Obama had indeed been handed a complete eight volume set.

Answer to the trivia question: Which volume of the official Churchill biography supplied by Chartwell Booksellers made it to President Obama's historic first meeting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain but not into the official record of the event?

Now you know.

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