BEAUX BOOKS

Cecil Beaton

Rare books by Cecil Beaton, including first editions, signed copies, limited editions, dust jacket designs, artwork and ephemera. Plus, the best books on Beaton, including vintage exhibition and auction catalogues, and classic monographs.

Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) is well-known as a photographer, artist, theatre designer and author. He captured images of the Bright Young Things; his work frequently appeared in Vogue; he travelled to India, the Middle East and China as an official war photographer; he photographed Queen Elizabeth II on her coronation day; he won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design for Gigi and My Fair Lady. He straddled the twentieth century but remains ever-popular in the twenty-first, with books and exhibitions on his work and life appearing regularly.

During his lifetime Beaton authored over thirty books and provided dust jackets and illustrations for many more. When Beaton died in 1980, Lord Snowdon wrote in a tribute in The Sunday Times:
‘…he was much more than just a photographer. He was a great journalist, wit, commentator and diarist: a 20th-century Pepys using a pen, brush and camera.’

Below are the books, art and ephemera by and about Cecil Beaton which we currently carry. If there is a specific book on Cecil Beaton that you would like to find or sell, please get in touch.

77 Items
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The Importance of Being Earnest
£80.00

Oscar Wilde's play, illustrated by Cecil Beaton.

The Loved and Envied
£65.00

Enid Bagnold's novel based on a fictional Lady Diana Cooper, with a jacket design by Beaton.

The Magic Image. The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day
£45.00

Beaton and Buckland's comprehensive directory of key photographers, from Fox Talbot to Koudelka.

The President's Hat
£300.00

Beaton's first dust jacket.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
£100.00

Tennessee Williams' Roman novel, with a dust jacket design by Cecil Beaton.

The Spirit of Paris
Sold

Paul Cohen-Portheim's guide to Paris, with a dust jacket design by Cecil Beaton.

The Twilight of the Nymphs
£180.00

Pierre Louys' classical tales, illustrated with drawings by Cecil Beaton.

Time Exposure
£150.00

The first retrospective of Beaton's photographs.

Time Exposure
£350.00

A first edition of the first retrospective of Beaton's photographs.

Time Exposure [INSCRIBED]
£400.00

The first retrospective of Beaton's photographs, inscribed by the photographer.

Wars I Have Seen
Sold

Gertrude Stein's controversial war-time memoir, with a wrap-around jacket and photographs by Cecil Beaton.

Winged Squadrons
£250.00

Beaton's fly-on-the-wall account of the lives of airmen during the Second World War.

Mona Bismarck. Cristobal Balenciaga. Cecil Beaton
Sold

An exhibition catalogue illustrating the link between muse, couturier and photographer.

Cecil Beaton. The Authorised Biography
£35.00

The official biography of Beaton by Hugo Vickers.

Cecil Beaton. The Art of the Scrapbook
Cecil Beaton. The Art of the Scrapbook
Sold

A compendium of pages from Cecil Beaton's scrapbooks

SALE
A Life in Fashion. The Wardrobe of Cecil Beaton
£12.00
£20.00

An illustrated study of the personal sartorial style of Cecil Beaton.

Malice in Wonderland. My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton [SIGNED]
£25.00

Hugo Vickers' account of the journeys he made and the people he met whilst writing the authorised biography of Cecil Beaton.

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