Caruso: An Illustrated Life • Author: Howard S. Greenfeld
Caruso: An Illustrated Life (First Edition Collectible Copy)
The Perceptive and Lavishly Visualized Biography of the Legendary Neapolitan Tenor
The Perceptive and Lavishly Visualized Biography of the Legendary Neapolitan Tenor
Bibliographic Specifications
• Title: Caruso: An Illustrated Life
• Author: Howard S. Greenfeld
• Publisher: Collins & Brown, London
• Publication Date: 1991
• ISBN-10: 1855850220
• ISBN-13: 9781855850224
• Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover Release.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium heavy cloth boards featuring brilliant metallic-stamped lettering across the spine, perfectly complemented by dense structural endpapers.
• Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 192 pages. Elegantly designed as an expansive visual biography, featuring dozens of rare historical photographs, stage-costume portraits, archival performance prints, and Enrico Caruso’s own personal caricatures.
• Language: English
• Title: Caruso: An Illustrated Life
• Author: Howard S. Greenfeld
• Publisher: Collins & Brown, London
• Publication Date: 1991
• ISBN-10: 1855850220
• ISBN-13: 9781855850224
• Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover Release.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium heavy cloth boards featuring brilliant metallic-stamped lettering across the spine, perfectly complemented by dense structural endpapers.
• Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 192 pages. Elegantly designed as an expansive visual biography, featuring dozens of rare historical photographs, stage-costume portraits, archival performance prints, and Enrico Caruso’s own personal caricatures.
• Language: English
Official Condition Report
• The Book: Used – Very Good (VG)
o Exterior / Boards: The publisher's cloth-covered boards are exceptionally clean, flat, and structurally sound. The geometric corner tips and linear edges remain square and firm. The spine is completely straight, sturdy, uncreased, and undamaged, keeping its tight original binding.
o Interior: The inner text block is tight, crisp, and flawlessly secured. All 192 interior pages and high-gloss photographic plates are immaculate, clean, white, and completely free of handwritten ink inscriptions, text highlighting, or dog-ears.
o Protection: Professionally housed and safeguarded inside an archival-grade clear Cellophane sleeve to insulate the cloth panels from environmental dust and handling friction.
• The Dust Jacket: Used – Very Good (VG)
o Condition: Fully present and enclosed within the protective Cellophane wrap. The jacket exhibits only minor, limited signs of standard storage shelf-wear and light micro-creasing along the extreme peripheral margins. The graphic cover remains bright, complete, unclipped, and highly presentable.
• The Book: Used – Very Good (VG)
o Exterior / Boards: The publisher's cloth-covered boards are exceptionally clean, flat, and structurally sound. The geometric corner tips and linear edges remain square and firm. The spine is completely straight, sturdy, uncreased, and undamaged, keeping its tight original binding.
o Interior: The inner text block is tight, crisp, and flawlessly secured. All 192 interior pages and high-gloss photographic plates are immaculate, clean, white, and completely free of handwritten ink inscriptions, text highlighting, or dog-ears.
o Protection: Professionally housed and safeguarded inside an archival-grade clear Cellophane sleeve to insulate the cloth panels from environmental dust and handling friction.
• The Dust Jacket: Used – Very Good (VG)
o Condition: Fully present and enclosed within the protective Cellophane wrap. The jacket exhibits only minor, limited signs of standard storage shelf-wear and light micro-creasing along the extreme peripheral margins. The graphic cover remains bright, complete, unclipped, and highly presentable.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1991 by Collins & Brown, Howard S. Greenfeld's Caruso: An Illustrated Life stands as a remarkably perceptive and visually stunning biography of Enrico Caruso, widely considered the greatest tenor in operatic history. Greenfeld meticulously traces Caruso's colorful life from his humble, impoverished childhood roots in Naples to his triumphant rise as the undisputed king of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The text explores Caruso’s immense vocal genius, his volatile personal relationships, and his role as the world's first global recording superstar, whose historic acoustic matrix discs famously put the Victor Talking Machine Company on the map. Lavishly decorated with archival stage photographs and Caruso's own humorous hand-drawn backstage caricatures, this volume serves as an essential historical record for classical music lovers and opera historians alike.
Published in 1991 by Collins & Brown, Howard S. Greenfeld's Caruso: An Illustrated Life stands as a remarkably perceptive and visually stunning biography of Enrico Caruso, widely considered the greatest tenor in operatic history. Greenfeld meticulously traces Caruso's colorful life from his humble, impoverished childhood roots in Naples to his triumphant rise as the undisputed king of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The text explores Caruso’s immense vocal genius, his volatile personal relationships, and his role as the world's first global recording superstar, whose historic acoustic matrix discs famously put the Victor Talking Machine Company on the map. Lavishly decorated with archival stage photographs and Caruso's own humorous hand-drawn backstage caricatures, this volume serves as an essential historical record for classical music lovers and opera historians alike.
Author Profile: Howard S. Greenfeld
Howard S. Greenfeld (1928–2000) was a highly respected American author, biographer, and independent publisher who co-founded the legendary Orion Press. Celebrated for his elegant narrative style and deep archival research, Greenfeld specialized in writing definitive biographies of monumental cultural and literary figures, including books on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marc Chagall, and Gertrude Stein. His profound appreciation for classical music and Italian culture shines through his study of Caruso, earning praise from music scholars for its objective pacing and historical accuracy.
Howard S. Greenfeld (1928–2000) was a highly respected American author, biographer, and independent publisher who co-founded the legendary Orion Press. Celebrated for his elegant narrative style and deep archival research, Greenfeld specialized in writing definitive biographies of monumental cultural and literary figures, including books on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marc Chagall, and Gertrude Stein. His profound appreciation for classical music and Italian culture shines through his study of Caruso, earning praise from music scholars for its objective pacing and historical accuracy.
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