LISZT

Sacheverell Sitwell

Published by Faber & Faber, London, 1934

About this Item

First impression of the true first edition, published in April 1934. Illustrated with twenty-five black and white drawings and photographs, including a black and white drawing on the title-page, sixteen illustrations reproduced in collotype, and an illustration of Berlioz conducting a choral concert by Gustave Dore: Le Journal pour Rire, 1850 facing page 188. ***Very good in mauve cloth-covered boards with silver titles and decorative rules to spine. Top edge of text-block gilt. Fore-edge and bottom edge of text-block untrimmed (rough-cut) as called for. Boards faded at top and tail of spine. Foxing to fore-edge of text-block and prelims, not affecting interior pages. Interior pages clean. No inscriptions. Spine tight. ***In a very good colour-illustrated dustwrapper that has not been price-clipped, showing original publisher's price of 15s net. Edges of dustwrapper slightly creased and rubbed. Very small loss and rubbing to corners of dustwrapper. Chips to head and tail of spine of dustwrapper. Tiny closed tear to top edge of rear panel of dustwrapper. Front and rear panels of dustwrapper bright. ***417 pages including detailed catalogue of works by Liszt, appendixes, bibliography and index to rear. 228 x 148 mm. ***'Mr. Sitwell is the first English writer to give us a full-length study of Liszt. Not only was Liszt the greatest of all virtuosi but, as well, he was one of the most original composers in history. He was also - as Mr. Sitwell presents him - a leading actor in the Romantic drama, a figure of the importance of Byron. The dazzling achievements of his youth brought him into close association with Chopin and with one of the weirdest figures in the history of art - Paganini. No less dramatic in character was his other contemporary Berlioz, who also figures in these pages. ***At the height of this career, when famed from end to end of Europe, Liszt abandoned the concert platform in order to devote himself, at Weimar, to an unselfish furtherance of all forms of music. Wagner now enters into, and in a sense presides over, his life. Madame d'Agoult and Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein, make this side of his life more varied than that of any hero in fiction. He becomes an Abbe, and we see the lover of Lola Montez lodges, for a time, in the Vatican. He returns from his Roman exile and embarks upon his 'Vie Trifurquee', spending equal parts of the year in Weimar, Budapest and Ville d'Este. His interlude with the Cossack Countess is described. The last phase of his life is not the least interesting - surrounded by his pupils, a few of whom are alive and in our midst, taking a passionate interest in modern Russian music, and writing his last compositions, experimental pieces which have not yet been given the appreciation due to them, though their author has been dead for nearly half a century.' (Quote from inside front and rear wrapper blurb). ***First impression of the true first edition, extremely hard to find in its original fragile 1934 dustwrapper. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 3237

Bibliographic Details

Title: LISZT

Publisher: Faber & Faber, London

Publication Date: 1934

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: First Edition