Gilbert and Sullivan and Their World

London: Thames and Hudson , 1973. Originally published by Cassell,1952 and revised by Spring Books in1966, the author with this edition since further research has uncovered fresh facts while others have been revised, concentrates on the span of Gilbert and Sullivan's lives alone, reassessing the cultural contribution they made, with D'Oyly Carte, to their world, to posterity and not least to the gaeity of nations. In this lively and authoritative biography Baily sets its fascinatingly contrasted progenitors in the context of the world in which they worked and from which they drew their inspiration. W.S.Gilbert was in many ways a typical Victorian gentleman, yet his satirical absurdities often made his contemporaries uneasy; while Arthur Sullivan rose from a working-class background to become the foremost British composer of the day and the darling of smart society. With Richard D'Oyly Carte, whose business acumen allied to progressive taste catalysed their talents, these two wrought a revolution in the theatre, and Baily traces the story of their partnership from the inauspicious failure of Thespis through the dazzling succession of triumphs at home and abroad to the final series of disastrous quarrels.Text and illustrations combine to give a vivid picture of an age, and of the men who created a uniquely English confection of mock-heroic satire, geniality and authentic lyricism which, far from fading with the age that engendered it, still retains a special place in the culture and affections of the English-speaking world. Please email for further details NO EXTRA POSTAGE BEYOND OUR STANDARD RATES!. Dad November 1973 from Stella & David. First Edition. Grey Cloth. Near Fine (NEAR NEW)/No Jacket. Illus. by Black and White Illustrations. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾". HARDBACK.