[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript

London, New York: 1956-1958.

Price: $6,500.00

Unbound. A small archive of 14 letters and one manuscript by Cecil Beaton in the mid-1950s. All items near fine with some creasing and slight edgewear.

A collection of letters from the renowned photographer, costume designer, and writer, Cecil Beaton, many are to members of the editorial staff of *Harper’s Bazaar* in the 1950s. The majority are to associate editor Dorothy Wheelock, and editor-in-chief Carmel Snow and are Signed either “C.B.” or “Cecil.” Much of the content has to do with various photo spreads in the magazine as well as projects he’s working on in various mediums ranging from stage to writing. “I’m going to be in Paris August working on the unusual film of ‘Gigi’ (then Hollywood I suppose in Oct.) … Meanwhile here is Julie Harris in a costume I designed for a very witty English film ‘The Truth about Women’ … It is episodic & very fast & should be a new jolt in English films.” A later letter from 1958 reads, “Here I’m doing ‘Fair Lady’ over once more & will be relieved when it’s over tomorrow night.” Other letters include gossip, such as his observation that Marlon Brando is putting on weight. Another letter includes a postscript nearly as long as the letter itself in which he complains that “Hermoine [Gingold] has been so difficult it seems she will never really sign on any dotted line. I wonder if Dick [Richard Avedon] never let me see one of the pictures of myself – unless I looked as awful as I felt?” He discusses photographs he’s taken, some of which he asks after *Harper’s Bazaar*'s interest. In one letter he writes, “I have also a wonderful one, all white skin, of Mrs. [?] & her new baby (naked) – but she may have difficulty in getting her husband’s permission for reproduction.”

Also included is a three page typed manuscript titled “Marilyn Monroe.” A note in pencil on the first sheet states: “By Cecil Beaton / original sent [?] 3/2/56.” Beaton held his famous photo shoot of Monroe at New York’s Ambassador Hotel on February 22, 1956. These thoughts and sentiments on Monroe, first entered in Beaton’s personal diary, appear to have been submitted a little more than a week following the shoot either to Dorothy Wheelock or Carmel Snow at *Harper’s Bazaar*. A shorter version of the essay appeared in Beaton’s *Portraits and Profiles*, edited by Hugo Vickers (published 2014) and presumably was printed also in Beaton’s *The Restless Years. Diaries: 1955-1963* (1976). The typescript is more than a third longer than the 2014 published version, and contains several variations from the printed text as well as handwritten corrections.

Dorothy Wheelock became friends with Beaton when she was with *Harper’s Bazaar*. According to her obituary, “From 1940 to 1957, she was associate editor at *Harper’s Bazaar*, planning features, instigating and attending photographic sittings, and writing articles.” She left *Harper’s* to work on a magazine, *Islands in the Sun Club*, “a membership magazine for people interested in isles in the West Indies and other islands in the world.” In some of the letters featured here Beaton discusses the Club and says he would be happy to become a member. Carmel Snow was the editor-in-chief of *Harper’s Bazaar* until 1958 and famously discovered fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who is mentioned in these letters, as well as other talented writers and photographers.

A modest but interesting archive of letters from an influential photographer and designer to two important women in the fashion world.


Item #425844

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Item #425844 [Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript. Cecil BEATON, Carmel Snow, Dorothy Wheelock.
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript
[Archive]: Correspondence and Typed Manuscript