The Ballet of the Second Empire

xvi, 279pp. Copious b/w illustrations. Indexed. There is a short, flat crease on the inner rear flap of the dust jacket, else fine throughout. First published in the 1950s in two volumes, this combined volume edition contains Ivor Guest's complete classic study of the ballet of the second empire. The Second Empire, an unjustly neglected phase of ballet history, is a continuation of the Romantic period. All the important figures are vividly brought to life - Fanny Cerrito, Carlotta Grisi, Carolina Rosati, Amalia Ferraris and the brilliant but tragic Emma Livry - and set against the social, literary and artistic background of the time.