Beaumont, Cyril W.. The Sadler's Wells Ballet: A Detailed Account of Works in the Permanent Repertory, with Critical Notes. C. W. Beaumont, London, 1946.

Price: US$19.00 + shipping

Condition: Fair

Description: . . . . Presentation copy, signed by author Beaumont on endpaper. 8vo, hardcover. Vg condition in fair dj. Contents moderately age-toned, otherwise clean, binding & hinges firm; dj rubbed/smudged, edge-tattered, lacking 1-inch chip across upper & lower spine and corners of rear panel. vii, 9-207 p. frontis., plates. Errata slip tipped in at end of Table of Contents.

Seller: Tiber Books, Cockeysville, MD, U.S.A.

HURRY, Leslie; BEAUMONT, Cyril W. (Introduction);. Leslie Hurry: Settings & costumes for Sadler's Wells Ballets BALLETS: Hamlet, 1942, Le Lac des Cygnes and The Old Vic Hamlet, 1944. Faber & Faber/ Ariel Books on the Arts, 1946.

Price: US$193.85 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE THEATRE DESIGNER. 8vo. pp. 72, incl. colour frontis and b/w plates and line drawings by Hurry. Original beige cloth, spine and upper board lettered in brown. Inscribed by Hurry in blue-black biro to ffep: "To Robbie, with all my gratitude for his great help and enthusiasm, which has made these productions possible, Leslie Hurry, April 1947", circular stain to endpapers running through front matter, occasional marks, top thread snapped at title page. Else, clean and tidy. In the original orange, black and white illustrated dust jacket: grubby and creased, loss to head of spine, a number of closed tears. Very good/ good+ Unusual inscribed. An early presentation copy from the celebrated theatre designer to Robbie, "for his great help and enthusiasm which has made these productions possible": perhaps even, the great Australian ballet dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, who provided Hurry's first theatrical commission? Indeed, according to Beaumont, Helpmann had to convince Hurry to work with him: "Helpmann then took him to his flat and, putting on a gramophone record of the Tchaikovsky music he intended to use, sketched the principal incidents in the ballet to his wondering guest." Hurry (1909-1978) had trained at the Royal Academy and by the early 1940s was becoming recognised as a surrealist painter, leading to his one-man show at the Redfern Gallery. This exhibition caught the eye of Helpmann (1909 1986), who was developing a ballet for Sadler's Wells based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Set in the brain of the dying Hamlet, Hurry's "phantasmagoric set, in blood-red and crimson, evoked a 'decadent palace' (Beaumont, 8), dominated by a Janus-faced figure, Revenge" (ODNB). Helpmann danced Hamlet. The success of Hurry's designs was the first step to his becoming one of "the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation".

Seller: Quair Books PBFA, Leeds, United Kingdom