The Book Of Beauty

BEATON, Cecil

Published by Duckworth, 1930

About this Item

BEATON, Cecil [67] pp. Duckworth 1930 11 1/8" x 9" Exceedingly rare with the jacket Illustrated with a coloured frontispiece from the author's drawing of Queen Alexandra, 27 collotype reproductions of his photographs, and 100 line drawings in the text. Cecil Beaton's scarce first book. The Book of Beauty is Beaton's unashamed paean to the beauty of the women who inhabit his world. The book is inspired by books of beauty published in the Victorian period and by his childhood fascination with the theatricality and glamour of the opposite sex. Photographs of women are accompanied by flowery descriptions. Sitters include Baba and Nancy Beaton, Edith Sitwell, Tallulah Bankhead, Tilly Losch, Nancy Cunard and Lady Diana Cooper. The whole captures the wit, intelligence and spirit of the modern women. I have tried.to make my book an analysis of modern beauty, a collection of the loveliest ladies I have ever seen, and, in time, it may become a sentimental document for our granchildren, to marvel at all the types of beauty to-day; the latest varieties of Venus as well as the counterparts of former belles.' The Book of Beauty is a 1930 book by Cecil Beaton, his first published book of photographs. In his concept of beauty, Beaton, with sketches and photographs, highlights actresses such as Tallulah Bankhead and Anna May Wong but also modernist literary figures like Edith Sitwell and Nancy Cunard. Contents: Lillie Langtry Lily Elsie Gaby Deslys Gina Palerme Mary Curzon, Lady Howe The Morgan Sisters (Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness and Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt) Gladys Cooper Rosamond Pinchot Lady Diana Abdy The Beaton Sisters (Nancy Beaton and Baba Beaton) The Jungman Sisters (Zita Jungman and Baby Jungman) Edith Sitwell Virginia Woolf Hazel Lavery Tallulah Bankhead The French Sisters (Essex French and Valerie French) Lillian Gish Marion Davies Norma Shearer Alice White Greta Garbo Irene Castle Gertrude Lawrence Lady Eleanor Smith and Lady Pamela Smith Hon. Daisy Fellowes Tilly Losch Vicomtess Alice de Janzé Marjorie Oelrichs Mrs Gordon Beckles Wilson Mona Williams The Ruthven Twins (Alison Ruthven and Peggy Ruthven) Paula Gellibrand, Marquise de Casa Maury Nada Ruffer and Clarita de Uriburu Freda Dudley Ward Anita Loos Adele Astaire Lady Nancy Cunard Lady Sylvia Ashley Lady Diana Cooper. Seller Inventory # 15769

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Book Of Beauty

Publisher: Duckworth

Publication Date: 1930

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition