The Face of the World. An International Scrapbook of People and Places

Cecil Beaton.

Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1957. First edition. Hardback, quarto; light-blue cloth-bound boards, backed with dark-blue cloth, with gilt title to spine, dust jacket. 240 pages. Extensively illustrated with photographs and text illustrations, on various coloured paper stock. English. 285 x 225mm. 1.2kg. . Near fine, in very good dust jacket; light shelf wear along folds and top edge, and to forecorners, light ruffling at head of spine, small stain to spine, browning to spine, light marks to rear jacket, not price-clipped; no inscriptions.

The Face of the World is a scrapbook and compilation of 'a decade of revival', a demonstration of how art and culture had been revitalised after the war years. It contains a mixture of photographs, drawings, and extracts from journals and published articles produced by Beaton in the years from 1945-1956. ‘People… Places… Pleasures… All come under the engaging scrutiny of Cecil Beaton’s camera, brush and pen.’ The title and subtitle of the book (An International Scrapbook of People and Places) reflects the global outlook of the contents. There are articles on London, Paris, New York, Sicily, and Tokyo laid out on hotel notepaper and the ‘Travel Album’ spreads reproduce photographs taken on visits around the world. The portrait photographs likewise demonstrate an international cast of creatives. The usual suspects are there (including Christian Bérard, Picasso, Diana Cooper, Colette, the Royal Family, Evelyn Waugh, Nancy Mitford and Winston Churchill), but Beaton was keen to ensure that the book was up to the minute and so included images of several contemporary stars, such as Albert Camus, Mary McCarthy, Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Maria Callas, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.