AUTOGRAPH ALBUMS | Les Ambassadeurs Visitors Book and two related volumes, 1940s-60s
LES AMBASSADEURS CLUB
Autograph Album signed by visitors, containing in excess of 360 signatures, many with inscriptions to John and Kitty Mills,
with entries by an extraordinary range of figures, mostly from the world of entertainment, including Edward G. Robinson (twice, with sketch), James Cagney, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Jane Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Gene Kelly, Ronald Reagan, Maureen O'Hara, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, Robert Donat, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Deborah Kerr, Alec Guinness, John Mills, David Niven, Bob Hope (3), Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin, Carol Reed, Otto Preminger, John Huston, Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, Eric Ambler, Robert Capa, Augustus John, Felix Topolski (with caricature), J. Paul Getty, Guy Gibson (with Richard Todd alongside), and Don Bradman, as well as many military figures from World War II, 148 pages, plus blanks, 1940s-60s, oblong 4to, red roan, upper cover lettered in gilt ("Les Ambassadeurs Club, Autographs")
[with:] A second autograph album, kept by Robert Mills (son of John Mills), with c.40 signatures including Margaret Lockwood, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Alec Guinness, Gloria O'Hara, John Garfield, Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, c.35 pages, plus blanks, 1950s, oblong 8vo, brown roan, lettered in gilt ("Autographs" with "M" monogram)
[with:] 13 photographs of the interior of Les Ambassadeurs, each 195 x 250mm, each mounted with photographer's stamp of Douglas C. Morris & Co. on the reverse, in an album
AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPHS AND A GLIMPSE INTO THE GLAMOROUS WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL HIGH SOCIETY IN THE 1940S-50S. John Mills (d.1982) had fled his native Poland on the Nazi invasion (he was born Jean-Jean Millstein) and served in the Free Polish forces - there were always strong rumours of his role in Intelligence - before opening Les Ambassadeurs on Hanover Square, Mayfair, in 1941. It was initially a club for Polish Officers but quickly became one of the most fashionable casinos and dining clubs in London and relocated to a former Rothschild mansion on Hamilton Place in 1950. It was particularly popular with visitors, especially Americans: it was more modern and welcoming than the clubs of St James's, and - as the many comments in the current album attest - served excellent food, which was a rare quality in 1940s London. The accompanying interior photographs show the opulence and style of the interior decoration.
Condition Report:
Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
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LES AMBASSADEURS CLUB
Autograph Album signed by visitors, containing in excess of 360 signatures, many with inscriptions to John and Kitty Mills,
with entries by an extraordinary range of figures, mostly from the world of entertainment, including Edward G. Robinson (twice, with sketch), James Cagney, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Jane Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Gene Kelly, Ronald Reagan, Maureen O'Hara, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, Robert Donat, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Deborah Kerr, Alec Guinness, John Mills, David Niven, Bob Hope (3), Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin, Carol Reed, Otto Preminger, John Huston, Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, Eric Ambler, Robert Capa, Augustus John, Felix Topolski (with caricature), J. Paul Getty, Guy Gibson (with Richard Todd alongside), and Don Bradman, as well as many military figures from World War II, 148 pages, plus blanks, 1940s-60s, oblong 4to, red roan, upper cover lettered in gilt ("Les Ambassadeurs Club, Autographs")
[with:] A second autograph album, kept by Robert Mills (son of John Mills), with c.40 signatures including Margaret Lockwood, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Alec Guinness, Gloria O'Hara, John Garfield, Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, c.35 pages, plus blanks, 1950s, oblong 8vo, brown roan, lettered in gilt ("Autographs" with "M" monogram)
[with:] 13 photographs of the interior of Les Ambassadeurs, each 195 x 250mm, each mounted with photographer's stamp of Douglas C. Morris & Co. on the reverse, in an album
AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPHS AND A GLIMPSE INTO THE GLAMOROUS WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL HIGH SOCIETY IN THE 1940S-50S. John Mills (d.1982) had fled his native Poland on the Nazi invasion (he was born Jean-Jean Millstein) and served in the Free Polish forces - there were always strong rumours of his role in Intelligence - before opening Les Ambassadeurs on Hanover Square, Mayfair, in 1941. It was initially a club for Polish Officers but quickly became one of the most fashionable casinos and dining clubs in London and relocated to a former Rothschild mansion on Hamilton Place in 1950. It was particularly popular with visitors, especially Americans: it was more modern and welcoming than the clubs of St James's, and - as the many comments in the current album attest - served excellent food, which was a rare quality in 1940s London. The accompanying interior photographs show the opulence and style of the interior decoration.
Condition Report:
Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
