Armstrong, W.G.

A Record of the Opera in Philadelphia by W.G. Armstrong [provenance: Fry family]

Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884. Hardcover. 274 p.; 26 cm. Dark brown cloth with gilt-stamped spine title; bevelled board edges. Top page edges gilt. Dark brown endpapers. Program from a lecture at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on Jan. 12, 1920, tipped on to front free endpaper. The lecture was "A Century of Grand Opera in Philadelphia" by John Curtis; it was illustrated by selections from eight operas with Curtis at the piano. This book was probably owned by John or Charles, Jr., sons of Charles Fry (1850-1910), son of Joseph Reese Fry who wrote several opera libretti including that for Leonora, composed by his brother William Henry Fry (1813-1864). The blank page following the front endpaper contains references in both pencil and pen to the pages on which the contributions of the Fry family to opera in Philadelphia are included; pencil marks are on the related pages. In addition, there are several clippings, one from a 1927 newspaper about the American premier of Bellini's Norma in Philadelphia, and three from excerpts of the diary of Joseph Sill, published in 1927 newspapers, in which opera-related events in Philadelphia in the 1840s are mentioned. (Acquired with a book on American music bearing the bookplate of Charles Fry, Sr.) In Very Good Condition: spine is slightly darkened; ends of spine starting to fray; boards are lightly rubbed and soiled; shadows where clippings have been kept; otherwise, clean and tight. Very Good. Item #004736

Price: $75.00