Product Overview
A limited edition of 3000 numbered sets. This bespoke Authors' edition is presented in a gold-stamped, linen slipcase which features original artwork by mid-century artist Tony Duquette, the first American to have a one-man show at the Louvre in 1951. Both hardcover books feature gilded edges and include hundreds of original illustrations by Mr. Duquette, never published before, and printed in a four-color process to fully capture their sepia tones. Book One: The Walk to Elsie's: 400 pages Book Two: The Walk from Elsie's: 236 pages SYNOPSIS: Elsie de Wolfe, seventy-five year old superstar, must abandon her beloved Villa Trianon at Versailles in advance of the invading Nazi army. It only takes a minute for the world s first professional interior decorator, a tastemaker to kings and the world s original Queen of Branding , to proclaim that she is going Hollywood... to be with the royalty of America! The movie stars! Tony Duquette flees the town of Three Rivers, Michigan, realizing that he has to make a new life for himself and his family. With his father s financial ruin, the teenager knows that it is up to him to provide for his parents and siblings, and he intends to do so by making a name for himself in Hollywood. Inevitably, the two stars collide to form their own galaxy. What ensues is a midcentury romp across continents and caf society featuring the most glamorous globetrotters of their day: Cole Porter, Billy Haines, Louis B. Mayer, Vincente Minnelli, Judy Garland, Christian Dior, Carlos de Beistegui, Doris Duke, the Windsors, and dozens more! Authors Hutton Wilkinson and Flynn Kuhnert have written a pair of novels, imparting inside knowledge of a woman who wasn t born rich or beautiful but made herself both. As historical fiction, they share for the first time inside knowledge of Elsie de Wolfe, who d entrusted her life s secrets to Tony Duquette. This Auntie Mame tale carries the reader on a lavish adventure across the United States and Europe, between the years 1932 and 1951, as young Tony becomes Elsie de Wolfe s last great protg. Based on a true story, The Walk To Elsie's is a tale of irrepressible joy amidst loss, determined rebirth, self-invention, and most importantly, continuance. It is a journey, which irrevocably binds together two diverse personalities... a pair of iconoclasts who just happen to be the most fabled of 20th century tastemakers.
