Aïda

New York: Gulliver Books / Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. First trade edition of American soprano Leontyne Price’s picture book retelling of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1871 opera Aïda, signed by illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon. The first African-American soprano to win international fame, Price performed the role of Aïda at opera houses across the world. She felt a special affinity with the daring, tragic Ethiopian princess: “She was my best friend operatically and was a natural for me because my skin was my costume . . . I always felt, while performing Aïda, that I was expressing all of myself.” The lush, dramatic illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon, inspired (truncated) by the iconography of Egyptian tomb paintings, resemble elaborate set designs. The Dillons won numerous awards over the course of their long career, including back-to-back Caldecott Medals in 1976 and 1977, for Ashanti to Zulu and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, the only consecutive medals given to date. Aïda would win the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration in 1991. A fine copy of a striking book, signed by both Dillons. Single volume, measuring 11 x 10 inches: [34]. Original black cloth spine and black paper boards lettered in gilt, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket, color pictorial endpapers. Color plates and illustrated borders throughout text. Signed by Leo and Diane Dillon on title page. (Inventory #: 1003963)