Cecil Beaton

"Three Weeks" 1974 GLYN, Elinor w/ Introduction by Cecil Beaton (SOLD)

GLYN, Elinor

[319] pp.

Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd

1974

7 3/8" x 5 1/4"

This re-issue has the benefit of a long informed introduction by Cecil Beaton. Elinor Glyn (née Sutherland; 17 October 1864- 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction that was considered scandalous for its time. She popularized the concept of It. Although her works are relatively tame by modern standards, she had tremendous influence on early 20th-century popular culture and perhaps on the careers of notable Hollywood stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow in particular. When the novel was published in the USA by Duffield & Co., it was quite popular, 50,000 copies were sold in the first three weeks. After that, it sold on average about 2,000 copies per day for the next three months. The book's subject matter made it a specific target of the Boston-based Watch and Ward Society's anti-vice campaigns. A sexual scene in Three Weeks inspired the rhyme: Would you like to sin / With Elinor Glyn / On a tiger skin? / Or would you prefer / To err with her / On some other fur?