“THE ARISTOCRACY OF BALLET”: FIRST EDITION OF RUSSIAN BALLET, 1939, WITH 96 STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES BY GORDON ANTHONY

ANTHONY, Gordon. Russian Ballet. London: Geoffrey Bles, (1939). Folio (10-1/2 by 13 inches), original half blue cloth, uncut, original dust jacket. $2300.

First edition, with 96 beautiful black-and-white photogravure plates, a richly illustrated tribute to leading dancers of the Russian Ballet, each splendid 8-by-10-inch plate tipped to individual leaves, in extremely scarce original dust jacket.

Featuring an authoritative introduction by British dance critic Arnold Haskell, this beautiful book on the Russian ballet includes 96 “camera studies” by acclaimed dance photographer Gordon Anthony, who is often credited with securing international prominence for Britain’s Royal Ballet. Among those featured are: Alexandra Danilova, Diaghileff’s last ballerina; Anton Dolin, “the first Englishman to be premiere danseur of the Russian Ballet,” and Tamara Toumanova, “rightly named ‘the black pearl of Russian Ballet.”

Plates fine, light scattered foxing to near-fine book; some chipping to scarce extremely good dust jacket.