A 1924 bibliography of what had been written about Italian opera
Guido Bustico’s bibliography, number 22 in the Fondazione Leonardo’s Guide Bibliografiche, surveys writing on Italian opera and musical theater. The name on the wrapper appears to be Raphael G. Urciolo, a scholar who studied under the linguist Max Leopold Wagner.
The story
A bibliography is a map of what has been written on a subject. Guido Bustico’s maps the literature on Italian opera and musical theatre as it stood in 1924, when it appeared in Rome in the Fondazione Leonardo’s series of bibliographic guides, the Guide Bibliografiche. For a reader who wanted to study the subject, it said where to begin.
It is a slim book in Italian, about 17 centimetres tall and, by the count of the Italian library catalogue SBN, 82 pages long. For anyone tracing how Italians studied their own musical theatre, it is a snapshot of that scholarship a century ago.
This copy has had a hard life. Its cream wrapper, printed in red and black, is stained, foxed and browned, folded and chipped at the upper right and frayed along the outer margin and spine, and the first gathering is partly loose. The reading of the name on the wrapper as Raphael G. Urciolo’s has yet to be checked against handwriting known to be his.
Details
- Date
- 1924
- Publisher
- Fondazione Leonardo per la Cultura Italiana, Roma
- Edition
- Guide Bibliografiche, no. 22; Roma, 1924
- Binding
- wrappers: Decorative cream paper wrapper printed in red and black with pencil and ink ownership markings
- Condition
- Original cream printed paper wrappers stained, foxed and browned; prominent fold and chip at upper right, frayed outer margin and spine, partly loose first gathering; pencil price and inked ownership name; completeness not physically collated.
- Inscription
- Raphael G. Urciolo
- Stamp
- Oval decorative monogram or signature-like ownership device, identity unresolved
- Mark
- 40- [pencil price on front cover]
