Here Lies the Heart: A Tale of My Life
signed first edition
1960 · New York
by DE ACOSTA, MERCEDES
New York: Reynal, 1960. First Edition. Signed and inscribed by the author, poet and playwright Mercedes de Acosta. Inscribed on the front blank: “To my darling and unique Iya. With much love, Mercedes. 5-4-’60.” There are two red dots, one each on either side of Ms. de Costa’s signature, and a red zig-zag flourish beneath the date - all of which look to have been made with a colored pencil. Illustrated with sixteen pages of over fifty black & white photographs, many of which are informal in nature. Very good copy with some red offsetting to the paper boards, two small faint white marks to the front free endpaper, and a trace of rubbing to the cloth at the spine in a near fine bright dust jacket with some very minor dust soiling and a few tiny tears. Mercedes de Acosta (March 1, 1893 – May 9, 1968) was a prolific poet and playwright with a wide circle of well-known creative friends and lovers, including Duse, Isadora Duncan, the Barrymores, Alla Nazimova, Pavlova, Eva le Galliene, Irving Thalberg, Louis B. Mayer, Great Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Cecil Beaton, Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cole Porter, and more. She served as a model for photographer Adolf de Meyer, Edward Steichen, and Gertrude Kasebier, sculpted by Malvina Hoffman, and painted by Giovanni Boldini and John Singer Sargent. One of her most important romances was with Greta Garbo and the book includes many photos of Garbo, one of which shows de Acosta and Garbo (wearing gorgeous wide-leg pants), “striding swiftly along Hollywood Boulevard.” In his 1958 memoir, photographer Cecil Beaton, who was close with both women, wrote this about the relationship between de Acosta and Garbo: "Mercedes is [Garbo's] very best friend and for 30 years has stood by her, willing to devote her life to her.” After this memoir was published, de Acosta was frequently criticized for her frank portrayals of her lesbian experiences which was not surprising for the time. But, as her long-time friend Alice B. Toklas, romantic partner of Gertrude Stein, wrote in her defense, "Say what you will about Mercedes, she’s had the most important women of the twentieth century.” All in all Here Lies the Heart is a fascinating self-portrait of a complex and creative woman. (Inventory #: 20123E)