Serious Pleasures. The Life of Stephen Tennant

Philip Hoare.

Hamish Hamilton. London. 1990. First edition, first printing. Hardback, 8vo; black cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. xvi, 464 pages. Several hors-texte black-and-white plates. English. 240 x 165mm. 1kg. 9780241124166. Very good, in very good dust jacket; slight dustiness to top edge, no inscriptions; slight wear to jacket, crease to front flap, not price-clipped.

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.