History Under Fire [ASSOCIATION COPY]

Photographs by Cecil Beaton. With commentary by James Pope-Hennessy.

B. T. Batsford Ltd. London. May 1941. First edition. Inscribed by Beaton in ink to the front free endpaper - 'To Dearest Edith With Love From Cecil (E.D.A.)'. Hardback, large octavo; red cloth-bound boards, with gilt title to spine, dust jacket. viii, 117 pages. 52 black-and-white photographs. English. 230 x 175mm. 0.55kg. . Very good in good dust jacket; shelf wear to jacket, wear to forecorners and spine ends with small loss, a few small nicks, small tear to centre of spine, spotting to verso of jacket, small stain to front panel, spine browned, not price-clipped; dustiness to top edge, slight spotting to endpapers.

Beaton spent the first two years of the war in England, dividing his time between Ashcombe and Pelham Place, and working on various assignments. He took to exploring the streets of London during the Blitz, photographing the wreckage caused by the German bombs. The writer and historian James Pope-Hennessy was engaged in a similar activity, surveying the destruction of the capital and its historical buildings. The two came together to produce History Under Fire, with Pope-Hennessy providing the text and Beaton the images. The sub-title of the book reads ’52 Photographs of Air Raid Damage to London Buildings, 1940-41’. The book was published in May 1941, the final month of the Blitz, and is an important contemporary account of London's wartime experiences. Warmly inscribed to Edith Olivier by Beaton, her friend and 'Ever Devoted Admirer'. Olivier and Beaton moved in the same Wiltshire social circle (alongside Rex Whistler and Stephen Tennant), supporting each other with their work and spending much time together. A lovely association.