Caricatures by Enrico
Caruso
Complete Collection Issued with the Approval of the Artist
First Edition - 1922 - La Follia Di
New York, New
York
This is a folio collection of caricature
drawings by Enrico Caruso. In addition to his
phenomenal musical gifts, he was an excellent caricaturist, constantly dashing
off amusing sketches on envelopes, menus and other scraps of paper. Starting in
1903 and ending just before his death in 1921, this collection reflects the
people and characters he knew throughout his illustrious operatic career and
includes cartoon-like drawings of himself as different
characters, other performers as both characters and themselves, composers and
conductors, political and social notables.
Faux grained reddish brown cloth lettered
in gilt, about a hundred pages followed by several pages of advertisements. The
spine has a 3 inch tear and some chipping at the top and bottom of the spine.
The corners are bumped and the cover has moderate shelfwear.
On the second free endpaper there is an inscription, in neat script, “To
James O’Day, August 21st, 1931, with
compliments of E. L. Elfaute. The text block is sound with no loosened
pages, two leafs are torn but intact –the second free endpaper and the 3rd
page. The pages are toned as you would expect from a book over 85 years
old. Overall, the book is in good to very good condition.
