Serious Pleasures. The Life of Stephen Tennant

Philip Hoare.

Hamish Hamilton. London. 1990. First edition, fourth printing. Hardback, octavo; black cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. xvi, 464 pages. Several hors-texte black-and-white plates. English. 240 x 165mm. 1kg. 9780241124166. Near fine, in very good dust jacket; slight shelf wear to jacket, short 2cm tear to lower edge of rear panel.

Philip Hoare's definitive biography of Stephen Tennant. The book covers the whole of Tennant's long and eclectic life, including his precocious childhood, the years as a Bright Young Thing and his friendship with Whistler and Beaton, his love affair with Seigfried Sassoon, his writings and art, and his final years spent as a recluse in Wilsford Manor where all manner of stars made the pilgrimage to his bedside.