How to Travel Incognito

by Bemelmans, Ludwig

• ISBN13: 9781853755217
• ISBN10: 1853755214
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: Carlton Publishing Group

Summary

Monsieur Le Comte de St Cucuface, a charismatic aristocrat fallen on hard times, slums his way around postwar France in elegant style, trading on his name and his exquisite manners. After a chance encounter on a train, he convinces a wide-eyed Ludwig Bemelmans to adopt the identity of an imaginary German prince and join him in his ruse. Together they set out on an enchanted adventure through a France that is crumbling to dust, feeding off the comically vulgar continental set that is fast replacing Cucuface's blue-blooded caste. They dine on the finest food and wine, stay at the most splendid hotels and chateaux, pausing only for Cucuface to recount another amusing tale of his eccentric lineage. Mixing autobiography and fiction to magical effect,How to Travel Incognitois an affectionate and melancholic hymn to the passing of an ancient order.

Author Biography

Ludwig Bemelmans -- author, illustrator and legendary bon viveur -- was born in the Austrian Tyrol in 1898. A rebellious child, he never finished his formal education and was apprenticed out to his Uncle Hans, a prosperous hotelier. After shooting a head-waiter following a dispute, he was shipped off to America at the age of 16, where he arrived with two pistols to 'fend off hostile Indians'. After working in the hotel industry, he began writing children's books, his most successful being Madeline, and later, books for adults including several humorous volumes on hotel life

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
In a First-Class Compartment	p. 1
How to Be a Prince	p. 23
Madame l'Ambassadrice	p. 41
The Perfect Marriage	p. 65
The Cure de St. Cucugnan	p. 87
The Chateau de Plaisir	p. 97
The Postponed Wedding	p. 109
Consuelo	p. 121
Escapade	p. 131
Masquerade	p. 141
The Calendar Man	p. 159
A Good Morning, a Quiet Evening	p. 173
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