Aida. The Story of Verdi’s Greatest Opera
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1938. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher’s blue binding cloth over illustrated paper-covered boards, patterned endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket.
Adaptation for children of the story of Giuseppe Verdi’s four-act opera, with illustrations by Barry Bart. Produced as part of the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s Opera Books series, the volume depicts the tragic story of the Ethiopian princess, with text by conductor and commentator Robert Lawrence, scores of selected melodies, themes, and arias, and thematic annotations. The series was part of the Guild’s early educational efforts to cultivate children’s interest in opera. Lawrence adapted the majority of titles in the series, which included Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Sullivan and Gilbert’s The Mikado and The Gondoliers, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretal, and Bizet's Carmen. Illustrated throughout with color plates and black-and-white drawings and vignettes. Christmas 1938 inscription to verso of front endpaper. Spine-ends and corners rubbed; unclipped dust jacket moderately edgeworn, with several small chips and nicks. Very good. Item #5593
$35.00