The First Book of Ballet (Signed and Inscribed Assocation Copy)

First edition, first impression. 94pp. Generously illustrated with numerous two-tone illustrations throughout. Original beige cloth boards with vignette of three ballet dancers on front (boards rubbed with a couple of tiny stains on edges, slightly rounded on leading corners). Pages bright, crisp and clean throughout Unclipped DJ rubbed at chapped at edges, front detached from rear, with about a third of the backstrip absent. Ffep inscribed “Thank you so mich for emergency service on this. Love, Noel, 1954”. The recipient was Rita Smith who, for many years, was Streatfeild’s secretary and typist. DJ now protected in archival quality clear film sleeve. By following the career of a young dancer, Anne, through her early years of training, the author tells with sympathy and unexpected humour the qualities an aspiring ballerina must have.