1990 "First Edition" stated; Alfred A. Knopf publishers, New York; "The Story of an American Classic"; hardbound in black and terra cotta boards with gilt lettering and decor on cover and along spine, very nice; full of wonderful black and white and color photos; very good condition with unmarked pages, appears unread; dust jacket very good.
 
Description -
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by the American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel of the same name.
 
Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City.[1] It featured a cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. After suffering from an initially unpopular public reception due in part to its racially charged theme, a 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it new popularity, and it is now one of the best-known and most frequently performed operas.
 
Gershwin read Porgy in 1926 and proposed to Heyward to collaborate on an operatic version. In 1934, Gershwin and Heyward began work on the project by visiting the author's native Charleston, South Carolina. In a 1935 New York Times article, Gershwin explained why he called Porgy and Bess a folk opera...