1899 THE GREAT OPERAS By VERDI

(VERDI, Giuseppe) BUEL, James W. (ed.). The Great Operas. The Romantic Legends upon which the Masters of Song have founded Their famous Lyrical Compositions. London, Paris, Berlin, Philadelphia: The Société Universelle Lyrique, 1899. Five volumes. Folio, original white cloth, elaborately gilt-decorated covers with, patterned endpapers, all edges gilt. “Edition de Luxe,” with an introduction by Verdi, splendidly illustrated with 50 mounted photogravure plates on silk and numerous half-tone text illustrations. A fine set in lovely publisher’s deluxe bindings. In addition to a number of biographical sketches of the composers, this collection includes illustrated plot summaries for Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Traviata, and Aida; Wagner’s The Master-Singers, Tristan and Isolde, and the four operas of The Ring of the Nibelung; Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute; Beethoven’s Fidelio; Puccini’s La Boheme; Rossini’s The Barber of Seville; Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana; Massenet’s Manon; Bizet’s Carmen; as well as a number of works by others, including Donizetti, Von Glück, Delibes, Gounod and Humperdinck. Fine condition. A lovely set.