The Precarious Crust - George Cukor's Copy
London: Chatto & Windus, 1971. Max Beerbohm. First edition. Hardcover with dust jacket. 8vo. Pp. 348. Frontis. reproduction of a Max Beerbohm drawing. Illustrated with many b&w photos and other reproductions. Appendix. Index. Red cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Unclipped dust jacket designed by Michael Harvey. Bookplate on the front pastedown. Fine / Fine. Item #7262 A memoir by the actor who, along with father Harry and uncle Laurence, dominated the London stage. Of chief interest is Irving's recollection of his boarding school, Durnford, and its unorthodox, if no eccentric, headmaster, Thomas Pellatt. It was this school, through its unruly, somewhat barbaric qualities, that spawned Peter Fleming and his less literary brother, Ian Fleming, the writer of the James Bond spy novels. Of Durnford Irving provides an admiringly nostalgic account, and mentions the Fleming brothers. But Headmaster Pellatt - "T.P.," who had an instinctual ability to relate to boys and act like them - remains the chief attraction here, having inspired in his students the viewpoint that the world is a stage. That this copy was owned by Cukor suggests his affliction with anglophilia, which grew increasingly as he aged, and his enthusiastic interest in British dramaturgy.
The Paul Landacre designed bookplate is that of George Cukor, the Hollywood film director whose best known movie might be Gone with the Wind.
Price: $30.00