The Glitter and the Gold, Signed by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
[Signed by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan] Balsan, Consuelo Vanderbilt. The Glitter and the Gold. First Edition. 1952. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in good plus condition—jacket shows moderate fraying and chipping, as well as a few edge tears. Book is signed “Consuelo V. Balsan, 1957” on the flyleaf, and is also inscribed by her.
In the Gilded Age, there were not yet movie stars, but in their stead were the dollar princesses, fixtures of the newspaper society pages and as idolized as the Hollywood stars one day would be. The most envied of these young women was Consuelo Vanderbilt, as beautiful as she was rich, and poised to marry into one of the most prestigious dukedoms in Great Britain. As this memoir makes clear, however, the grass was always greener. (Or should we say the gilt was more golden?) Behind the scenes, Consuelo was the tragic heroine of a fairy tale, dealing with a scheming mother (later repentant), a cold and indifferent husband, a duplicitous best friend (who succeeded her as Duchess of Marlborough), and, at long last, a knight in shining armor in the form of her second husband, Jacques Balsan. It is a timeless story. No wonder Edith Wharton modeled a character on her a century ago, and Julian Fellowes has done so again in HBO’s The Gilded Age.
“A title still evokes particular relish and ‘Your Grace’ is at times pronounced with almost reverent unction. I still recall with mirth an occasion when a clergyman before luncheon one day addressed my husband thus: ‘May I say grace, Your Grace?”
– Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan