Thamar Karsavina ... Translated from the Russian by H. de Vere Beauclerk & Nadia Evrenov. Edited by Cyril. W. Beaumont

London: C.W. Beaumont, 1922. Quarto. Ivory linen-backed decorative paper boards with oval printed title label to upper and printed title label to spine. 1f. (recto blank, verso tipped-in color plate of Karsavina), 1f. (recto title printed in dark gold and black, verso blank), 1f. (recto "Editor's Note," verso blank), 1f. (recto contents, verso blank), 1f. (recto "Table of Drawings," verso "Table of Camera Portraits"), 148, [149], [i] (blank) pp. With decorative head- and tailpieces by Claude Lovat Fraser and cover, preliminary pages, and p. 103 decorated by Randolph Schwabe.

With a presentation inscription from Walter Toscanini and Cia Fornaroli to dancer and choreographer Teresa Legnani (1915-1991) signed "Walter e Cia" dated "Natale 1933" to front free endpaper.

With full list of Karsavina's repertoire to pp. 139-143 listing specific ballets, her role, choreographer, set and costume designer, and composer.

The 17 reproductions of drawings, some hand-coloured, include role portraits of Karsavina in Thamar, Petrouchka, Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la Rose, Le Carnaval, Schéhérazade, Le Dieu Bleu, Giselle, The Three Cornered Hat, Le Astuzie Femminili, and The Good Humoured Ladies; costume designs for The Two Blackbirds and Le Coq d'Or; and drawings by Seroff, Sargent, and Schwabe.

The 15 tipped-in photographic plates include role portraits of Karsavina in Giselle, Schéhérazade, Le Carnaval, Le Pavillion d'Armide, Le Coq d'Or, Les Sylphides, Papillons, Le Spectre de la Rose, Daphnis et Chloë, Petrouchka, The Tragedy of Salome, L'Oiseau de Feu, The Three Cornered Hat, Pulcinella, and Le Astuzie Femminili.

Binding slightly worn, rubbed, bumped, and soiled; spine soiled and spotted, label slightly chipped at blank corners; endpapers unevenly browned and spotted. Very minor internal wear; edges very slightly darkened; some minor offsetting of tipped-in plates to facing page. First Edition. Limited to 230 copies "printed on antique paper," this no. 141, and 120 copies on handmade paper signed by Karsavina. Derra de Moroda 2454. Niles & Leslie II p. 504. Magriel p. 125.

Walter Toscanini (1898-1971), son of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, was a choreographer and dance historian; his wife Cia Fornaroli (1888-1954) was a prima ballerina, choreographer, and ballet teacher. Their papers are at the New York Public Library (archives.nypl.org/dan/19859).

"The first volume in English devoted exclusively to Mme Karsavina, which still remains the best tribute to her art and personality among the books devoted partly or wholly to her career." Niles & Leslie.

A Russian prima ballerina, Karsavina was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. After moving to London, she was instrumental in the establishment of The Royal Ballet and was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance. Karsavina created many of her most famous roles in the ballets of Mikhail Fokine, including Petrushka and Le Spectre de la Rose; she also created the title role in Fokine's The Firebird with Vaslav Nijinsky, her occasional partner.

Svetlov, prolific author on dance and associate of Diaghilev, was an ardent supporter of Fokine and his innovative choreography and wrote extensively on the Ballets Russes for the Russian press. He is perhaps best known for his Sovremennyi balet, published in 1911 in Russia and a year later in Paris as Le ballet contemporain.

A fine association copy.