Eyes on the Ballet approaches the form from the useful position of someone interested in what actually happens around the performance as well as onstage.

Kathrine Sorley Walker moves through ballet’s development, major works and choreographers, the relationship between movement and music, and the daily discipline required of dancers: classes, rehearsal, mime, costume, make-up and the less glamorous machinery behind the footlights.

Published in the early 1960s, it also catches British ballet at a particularly fertile moment, with discussion and photographs of dancers and productions associated with the Royal Ballet and the wider European tradition. The numerous black-and-white photographs are a substantial part of the book rather than decorative garnish, documenting dancers in rehearsal and performance alongside composers, productions and historical material. With a foreword by South African-born Royal Ballet ballerina Nadia Nerina.

Methuen & Co Ltd, London, 1963. First edition. Hardcover with original dust jacket. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs. Dust jacket shows rubbing, edge wear, small chips and short tears, particularly at corners and spine ends; boards and binding remain sound. Pages lightly age-toned but clean and unmarked. Good to very good condition overall.