[Cecil Beaton. Michael Arlen]
A Young Man Comes to London is a charming promotional book privately published by The Dorchester Hotel in London to celebrate its opening in 1931. It contains a short story by Michael Arlen, illustrated with line drawings by Cecil Beaton. Arlen’s story is a satirical romance involving two Bright Young Things on the make. Arlen himself was a figure of London society and his story, complemented by Beaton's illustrations, perfectly captures the mix of flightiness and bravado of the young 1920s set. The second-half of the book is devoted to the building and interiors of the new Dorchester. The Hotel's developers Sir Francis Towle and Sir Malcolm McAlpine provide 'A Brief History of a New Enterprise' and 'Some Facts and Figures about the Dorchester' respectively. Professor C.H. Reilly offers an architect's perspective. The colour plates reproduce drawings of the hotel’s interior.
Michael Arlen. Additional texts by Sir Francis Towle, Professor C.H. Reilly and Sir Malcolm McAlpine. Text illustrations by Cecil Beaton. Privately published by The Dorchester Hotel. [London]. [1931]. Hardback, quarto; boards bound in a zig-zag patterned cloth, pictorial title-label pasted to front board, matching zig-zag endpapers; folding double-page plan of the ground-floor of the hotel loosely inserted. 49 pages. Text illustrations by Beaton, including 2 full-page, 4 half-page and 1 decorative initial; 6 double-page hors texte colour plates and 4 full-page advertisements. English. 260 x 210mm. 0.5kg. . Very good; a few light surface marks to cloth boards and front label, fading to spine; off-setting on final two pages, stitching beginning to pull in a couple of places as is common with this book, some ink underlining in the later texts indicating the previous owner's interested in the architecture of hotel.
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