Scarce original English-language edition printed in Austria & published in Russia/USSR (commissioned by the renowned Aurora Art based in St. Petersburg), beautifully illustrated throughout on glossy paper. Many subsequent publications on Bakst issued by various American/Western European publishers are based on this very edition.

Léon Bakst (1866-1924) was a painter, illustrator, stage and costume designer. He is universally acknowledged for representing a synthesis of creative energy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bakst travelled widely throughout Europe and in 1890 joined the World of Art journal circle which numbered many artists among its members, the most famous being Benois and Diaghilev. This book illustrates the wealth of Bakst's contribution to the world of theatre and dance. His best known work includes sets for Stravinsky's Firebird, and Weber's Spectre de la Rose.

Léon Bakst was a Russian painter and costume designer. After graduating from gymnasium, he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a non-credit student, because he had failed the entry, working part-time as a book illustrator, though, he would eventually be admitted into this institution in 1883. From 1893 to 1897 he lived in Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian while still visiting Saint Petersburg often. After the mid-1890s he became a member of the circle of writers and artists formed by Sergei Diaghilev and Alexandre Benois. As a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes and revolutionized both theatrical design and contemporary fashion with his sensual and exotic visions. In 1922, Bakst broke off his relationship with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He died on the 27th of December 1924, in Paris.