BEATON, Cecil

• Cecil Beaton's Diaries. (Comprising: The Wandering Years: Diaries 1922-39; The Years Between: Diaries 1939-44; The Happy Years: Diaries 1944-48; The Strenuous Years: Diaries 1948-55; The Restless Years: Diaries 1955-63; The Parting Years: Diaries 1963-74.) Published by, Weidenfeld & Nicolson in London, 1961–1978.

Description

• Six volumes, octavo. Original publisher's cloth, spines lettered in gilt or silver, top edges stained. With the original publisher’s dust jackets, designed by Beaton.

• First editions, first impressions. A complete set of the author's chronological diary series tracking his life, artistic output, and social landscape across five decades.

• Sir Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) was a British photographer, illustrator, and Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer. Formally retained by Condé Nast under contract in 1927, Beaton served for decades as a staff photographer, illustrator, and caricaturist for Vogue and Vanity Fair. His editorial work for Condé Nast granted him access to international high society, Hollywood figures, and political leaders, the documentation of which forms the substance of these journals.

• An internally clean set in the original dust jackets. The text blocks are clean, square, and free of ownership inscriptions. The Wandering Years with a mid-century woodcut Ex Libris bookplate of Ermina S. Goble (née Stimson, 1901–1995), the noted fashion scholar and editor of Fairchild’s Dictionary of Fashion. A fitting association, Goble’s professional tenure directly intersected with the eras of 20th-century costume and high fashion documented throughout Beaton's diaries.

• Only very slight fading, if any, to the jacket spines. All six dust jackets remain unclipped, retaining their original UK decimal or pre-decimal price markings. The dust jackets for volumes I, II, and III have undergone localised repairs to stabilise small tears and edge wear at the extremities; the panels remain complete. The remaining three dust jackets are unrestored, showing only minor shelf wear.