The Anatomy of Dandyism
BARBEY D'AUREVILLY, J..; DAVID, Hermine (Illus.); LEWIS, Dominic Bevan Wyndham (Translator). The Anatomy of Dandyism, with some observations on Beau Brummell. London: Peter Davies, 1928.
This edition is limited to 500 copies, of which 200 were reserved for Random House, New York. This copy is No. 29. Originally published in 1845 under the title “Du Dandysme et de George Brummell”. Barbey d’Aurevilly (1808-1889) was a French novelist, poet, short story writer, literary critic, and dandy of some notoriety in the Parisian circles of his time, and with Balzac and Baudelaire an important theorist of French dandyism. With “Du Dandysme” he helped transform the superficial “beau” of the British Isles into an intellectual being of psychological depth. George Brummell, called Beau Brummell (1778-1840) was an English dandy and gambler, a friend of the Prince of Wales. He died in an insane asylum in France.
This is the second translation into English of “Du Dandysme et de George Brummell.” The translator, Bevan Wyndham Lewis (1891-1969) was a British writer who lived much in France and immersed himself in its history and literature. Lewis was a leading member of an influential group of Catholic writers who flourished between the wars, including Hilaire Belloc, G. K. Chesterton, J. B. Morton, Compton Mackenzie, and Evelyn Waugh. This translation is accompanied by dry-point illustrations by Hermine David, pseud. Hermine Léonette Coutan (1886-1970).
xv, 84; engraved title, 4 plates, headpiece and tailpiece; 4to, original cloth, gt lettering to spine. Very good in good plus original slipcase (some wear to extremities).
From the library of Scottish collector, Charles Ballantyne (1903-1985) with his ownership label to front pastedown.