Heroes and Heroines of Bitter Sweet
[Leadlay] 1931.
Portfolio of caricatures of the stars of Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet. Number 180 of 900 copies. The parchment backed portfolio is lettered in gilt. Contents include facsimile of a letter by Beerbohm, plus five large colour plates depicting the characters. In very good condition, with some dustiness to the portfolio, but internally perfect.
The portfolio commemorates Coward's hugely successful operetta, which ran for 769 performances and was seen by nearly a million people. The five cartoon portraits are of Noel Coward, Peggy Wood, Georges Metaxa, Ivy St. Helier, and Charles Cochran. The facsimile letter by Beerbohm reads "Sentiment is out of fashion, yet Bittersweet, which is nothing if not sentimental, is not a dead failure. Sentiment goes on; unaffrighted by the roarings of the young lions and lionesses of Bloomsbury, Bittersweet goes on, too; and Mr. Cochran [Charles Cochran, the producer] (being a sentimentalist), has wished that his survival should be commemorated by me in some sentimental drawings, which are here submitted to you."
PROVENANCE: From the library of Anthony Powell, bookplate on pastedown.
Stock ID: 34105
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