BEATON, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. Duckworth, 1930.

Price: US$365.73 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: BEATON, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. London: Duckworth, 1930. First edition. Beaton s first and scarcest book. This analysis of modern beauty collects Beaton s own photographs and drawings of leading socialites, film and stage stars, as well as modernist literary figures. There are 27 b/w photographic plates including portraits of Lillie Langtry, Tallulah Bankhead, Lilian Gish, Norma Shearer, Lady Diana Cooper, Baba and Nancy Beaton, together with numerous text drawings including illustrations of Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo and Anita Loos. The illustrations are accompanied by highly entertaining and witty text. Cecil Beaton (1904 1980) was a fashionable and leading photographer of the 20th century. In a career that spanned five decades, he shot iconic photographs of celebrities and high society that capture the high glamour, beauty and elegance of the age. xii, 67, [1] pp; colour frontis, 27 b/w plates, text drawings. 4to (280 x 220mm), original cream-coloured cloth, wear to bottom corner, old stain to the lower half of the front board, spine lettered in blue, front board lettered in blind. Binding cracked but firm. Scattered light foxing. Good/Good -.

Seller: Chase Rare Books, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom

BEATON, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. London: Duckworth, 1930.

Price: US$423.48 + shipping

Description: First edition, 4to, xii, 67, (1) pp. Colour frontispiece and 27 photographic portrait plates plus numerous illustrations in the text, contemporary inscription to fly leaf with a slightly later signature underneath. Original cloth backed gilt dotted boards, slight wear to the lower hinge, some general scuffing and marks to the boards. Beaton's paean to female beauty comprising a collection of photographs of a variety of society figures including Tallulah Bankhead, Lilian Gish and Lady Diana Cooper, some in rather outlandish costumes or scenes.

Seller: Bow Windows Bookshop (ABA, ILAB), Lewes, United Kingdom

BEATON, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. London Duckworth, 1930.

Price: US$449.14 + shipping

Description: 1st Edition. 21.3 x 27.8 cm red cloth backed, yellow paper covered boards xii, 67[1]pp, with colour frontispiece, 27 photographic plates and numerous line drawn illustrations. An unusual binding variant with some fading to the spine and a little rubbing to the foot of the spine. Internally clean, without name, inscription or bookplate but with toning to both endpapers. The book is inspired by Victorian books of beauty and brings them up to date. There are 27 photographic plates by Beaton including Baba and Nancy Beaton, Edith Sitwell, Tallulah Bankhead, Lilian Gish, Norma Shera and Lady Diana Cooper together with numerous drawings within the text including illustrations of Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Lawrence and Anita Loos. Rainford & Parris Books welcomes enquiries, so please do not hesitate to ask if you require further images or have any questions. All books are packaged with great care.

Seller: Rainford & Parris Books - PBFA, Bishop's Stortford, United Kingdom

Cecil Beaton.. The Book of Beauty. Duckworth., London., 1930.

Price: US$808.46 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Duckworth. London. 1930. First edition. Hardback, quarto; white paper-covered boards with gilt dot pattern, backed with pink cloth, with gilt title to spine, top-edge pink. xii, 67 pages. Colour frontispiece, 27 hors-texte black-and-white collotype plates and numerous line-drawing illustrations in the text. English. 285x230mm. 0.8kg. Very good; light shelf wear and marks to boards, some wear and rubbing to forecorners; some spotting (mainly to top edge), slight splitting within binding at one point, bookseller's label to endpapers. From the library of Bendor Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, with his ex libris bookplate to front endpaper. 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 Cecil Beaton's first book. It is an 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.   This copy from the library of Bendor Grosvernor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. Grosvenor married Leolia Ponsoby in the same year that The Book of Beauty was published; a year in which Beaton photographed Leolia as the glamourous Duchess. Beaux Books specialises in fine and rare books on art and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. We welcome questions about our books and we are happy to provide any extra images. Buy with confidence from an experienced bookseller.

Seller: Beaux Books, ABA, ILAB, Hartley Wintney, HAMPS, United Kingdom

Beaton, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. Duckworth, London, 1930.

Price: US$3849.80 + shipping

Condition: Poor

Description: 4to. Pp 67. 25 photographic plates - lacking 2 plates and 1 plate damaged. Page removed between title page and table of contents. Cloth-backed patterned boards, very worn. A horrible copy of no account, but one that is rescued and elevated quite above the ordinary by the presence on the half tile and title pages of the signatures of 49 guests at Ivor Novello's party, Santa Monica, Hollywood, 15/8/31. The signatures include those of Phyllis Dare, Jill Edmond, Bramwell Fletcher, Gladys O'Hagen, Laurence Olivier, Edmund Lowe,P.G.Wodehouse, Ivor Novello, etc.etc. Also included are 2 signed portraits. Appropriate restoration required.

Seller: Leakey's Bookshop Ltd., Inverness, United Kingdom

Cecil Beaton. The Book of Beauty. Duckworth, London, 1930.

Price: US$4106.45 + shipping

Description: The first edition of Cecil Beaton's first published photographical work, containing a variety of portraits of the beautiful women of the day. The first edition of this work.In the original torn dustwrapper, dustwrapper is very scarcely seen.Cecil Beaton's first published work, a collection of portrait photographs pondering on the beauty of the time.Beaton is a renowned fashion, portrait, and war photographer, well known and loved for his stage and costume design for films and theatre. He won Academy Awards for his costume design for the films 'Gigi' and 'My Fair Lady'.Illustrated with a colour frontispiece, twenty-seven plates, and in-text illustrations.Collated, complete.The portraits show Edith Sitwell, Anna May Wong, Nancy Beaton, Georgina Curzon, Norma Shearer, Lillie Langtry, Gladys Cooper, and more. The colour frontispiece portrays Queen Alexandra.Each portrait is accompanied by a brief biography. In the original publisher's cloth binding, in the original dustwrapper. Externally, smart, with some light marks to the boards and spine. A little bumping to the head and tail of the spine. Dustwrapper is torn, lacking the bottom half of the wraps and backstrip. Edgewear to the remnants of the wraps, with some chips and closed tears. Some discolouration and marks to the wraps. Internally, generally firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean with some odd spots. Plates of Edith Sitwell and Lady Lavery are working loose. Very Good Indeed

Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom