This is the book of reminiscences of the Ballets Russes which Mr

Beaumont, as the best qualified man in England, has, for the last ten

years, been urged to write. Readers will find that it is more intimate

and personal than any of Mr Beaumont’s previous works. From

1912 he saw every London season of Diaghilev’s Ballet, at first, as a

member of the public, and, after 1918, both before and behind the

curtain, as a friend of the Director and his lieutenants and of many

of the Company.

This book records the Ballet’s activities in London,

and a personal critical impression of the principal dancers in the

roles that they made famous. Little intimate incidents are included,

and pen pictures of distinguished personalities in private life. It tells

for the first time, and for all time, what the Diaghilev Ballet was

really like.