28 July 2010

heavens to Nancy


.
as often as something wonderful is happening in Nancy's Mitford World-



© The Mitford Archive
used with permission

 &
without the help of

Beaton
&
Megan
&
Heywood Hill Ltd

where would I be without a little help from my friends?




 drawn by Beaton
 the Season of 1933




Cecil Beaton photograph of Nancy Mitford and friends 1933

&

translated by Megan Wilson  
for cover of Mitford's novel
THE PURSUIT OF LOVE








this has to be the "get" of the summer!
I hope you do.


From now until September 10th* Heywood Hill Ltd. will celebrate their most famous alumna in an exhibition LOVE FROM NANCY- Special things from the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire- Deborah Mitford, Nancy's  sister...

Heywood Hill, described by Evelyn Waugh during the war years as a 'centre for all that was left of fashionable and intellectual London,' employed Nancy to work in the shop in 1942. Now married, Mrs. Rodd would walk to the shop from  miles away Blomfield Road to Curzon Street.

excerpted from Harold Acton's Nancy Mitford A Memoir: 

"Many used the pretext of seeking a book for the pleasure of seeing Nancy. A brief chat with her would brighten the rest of the day for them. Among the habitues were Evelyn Waugh, Lord Berners, Sir Osbert Sitwell and Raymond Mortimer,and the very books seemed to join in the laughter during their exchange of gossip. Nancy's laughter rose above theirs in a carillon that was almost operatic, a specimen of coloratura."


The last day of the exhibit the Dowager Duchess will be at Heywood Hill to sign copies of her memoirs.





Highly recommended reading The Bookshop At 10 Curzon Street: Letters Between Nancy Mitford and Heywood Hill 1952–73

nancy mitford.com here ( the site designed by Megan Wilson)
more my bookcovers here

the 5 books in the set from Penguin , see the other books & more about the exhibit here


.

17 comments:

  1. Isn't Deborah the woman who lives at Chatsworth? My son Christian and I toured the grounds years ago. Shiree'

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  2. What a wonderful post... I think that Heywood Hill have got an exhibition on...? I might pop in and see it if it is still on. Her image has so much character doesn't it?

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  3. thank you Hannah, Yes through the 10 of Sept, mentioned at the lower part of the post.Go get the Dowager Duchess to sign a copy of her book on the 10th and see those Mitford treasures for Me. pgt

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  4. Shiree-Yes, Deborah, known as Debo to family and friends is now the Dowager Duchess. A wonderful place to visit and she is such a vital part of its continued allure and success. Much to admire in this lady.

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  5. The Devonshire's...I've always been quiet fond of them. Hardwick hall and Chatsworth are unparalleled gems. Apart form the Duke's drinking tendencies which he somehow understates in his memoirs "Accidents of fortune" together they are an incarnation of a certain timeless Englishness I've always found terribly attractive.

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  6. Ah the Mitfords they all had savoir faire!

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  7. Ivan, Yes. Chatsworth is impressively vital I think. I haven't read the memoir, nor do I know much about him? Was he the reluctant second son, having not been groomed for the job? Though I find the word smitten a bit sophomoric- I guess it suits my Mitford tendencies. Something about that many sisters. I spent the day with 4 (ages 28 to 8 years) unrelated to me and it was fascinating. Perhaps it is that era, where so much was lost that pulls me to it in all things. Gaye

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  8. The Heywood Hill letters are my favorite of the numerous "Mitford Letters."

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  9. It would be the get, as you say.The Cecil Beaton sketch is the same I'd say. A.

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  10. Lucinda- Yes they are wonderful. I would love to read over all the NM books soon-SO many books so little time. G

    A.non. Why thanks! PG

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  11. Highly recommend the book I am reminded of by Lucinda and another email- The Bookshop At 10 Curzon Street: Letters Between Nancy Mitford and Heywood Hill 1952–73

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  12. You can build families by reading her uproarious comedies aloud at home during cocktails. Youth learn to temper their adolescent acquisiition of sarcasm, parents refresh themselves in sweet self-mockery (exploding sometimes in pure hilarity), and even the family dog will always have Sigi. Hers, as you say, was no merely fashionable wit, which she regulated with a deep savoir faire for humaneness and the necessary ties of society, tainted by none of the nastiness of her friend, Waugh, or of antecedents like Saki and heirs like Amis, K or M. She had more than the capability of empathising with figures of privilege - hereditary or sui generis; she had brilliance and she had gallantry, enough to take on one of the most prohibitive biographical challenges of the previous 200 years -- "Voltaire in Love" -- and get away with every word of it. If one's born to be a Tory, that's the way to do it.

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  13. How about just Heavens to Little Augury. You are so good.

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  14. Laurent, Waugh was nasty and we are on the same wave length about Voltaire in Love too. After I finish my current read I am going back to that one again. We may need to compare notes. Her humour not for the faint of heart,but what really worthwhile really is? When I read the Acton memoir I underlined many things but in his introduction he finishes by saying-La Bruyere's famous maxim might have been Nancy's 'You must laugh before you are happy for fear of dying without having laughed.' Gaye

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  15. I'm almost done re-reading Love In A Cold Climate. Thanks so much for the tip about the Pengin paperbacks--I can't wait to be further immersed in all things Mitford.

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  16. I just ordered the heywood/nancy letters a few days ago, and I think I'm just going to HAVE to buy the box set even though I own most already. Seems so many of us are on the mitford wavelength! We need to have a caucus!

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