A Portrait of Leni Riefenstahl

First edition, first impression.  viii, 310pp, with two sections of plate illustrations.  Black cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on the spine.  8vo.  There’s a small indentation at the base of the front board and two small scuffs on the front joint.  A hint of creaminess to pages else neat, clean and tight.  In its original illustrated dust jacket, not price clipped, a little shelf worn and lightly rubbed at edges.  

Helene ‘Leni’ Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was a German film-maker and actress, and a controversial figure in film history.  Considered by many to the most creative film maker of her generation, she was rumoured to be a lover of Adolf Hitler and made propaganda films in support of Nazi Germany.  This substantial biography sifts the fact from the legend and provides a moving portrait of an early movie star and complicated woman.