BEATON, Cecil

[261] pp.

B.T. Batsford Ltd

1938

9″ x 6 1/4″

*dampstaining to bottom cover boards*

A first edition of Beaton’s witty and glamourous snapshot of Manhattan in the 1930s. Cecil Beaton first sailed to New York in November 1928, it was the first of many annual trips he was to take, spending the winter in a hotel in Manhattan creating portraits and fashion photographs for Cond Nast. It was in New York that Beaton steadily built up a reputation as a leading international photographer, American society embraced him enthusiastically and he was able to earn significant sums of money. Cecil’s Beaton’s New York is a personal account of the city – its style, exuberance, diversity, people and culture. Beaton translates the visual impressions he has gained from New York into written prose. He talks about the weather, the architecture, transport, the food, the press, crime, the museums, the theatres, and society figures. The text is accompanied by numerous black-and-white photographs and line drawings by Beaton, supplemented with additional press photos and images by photographers such as E. O. Hopp, Higdon Cato and Ben Sahn. The layout for the book was overseen by Brian Cook of Batsford and Cook devised the bright yellow cloth covers and a purple top-edge.