Le Fantome de l'OpÈra
- 1910
1910. Paris: Pierre Lafitte & Gie, [1910].
12mo (189 x 120 mm), (6), 520 pp. Untrimmed in the original publisher's four-color illustrated wrappers; upper wrapper and backstrip sunned, slight crease in lower wrapper, an astonishingly well preserved copy of a fragile book.
ß First edition of the Phantom of the Opera, a rare copy in original wrappers of the French gothic horror novel that became the basis of the longest running show in Broadway history, the second-longest running West End musical, and over $6 billion in worldwide ticket sales. LeRoux was a French journalist and mystery writer, inspired by real events at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris and by a love of Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in serial form in Le Gaulois from September 1909 to January 1910, and was later translated and serialized in both England and America. Stage and film adaptations followed, but it was Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical (a project which only took off when found and read a copy of LeRoux's original novel), which made the Phantom a household name. The original 1986 production starring Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford, and Steven Barton, won multiple awards, and West End performances continued uninterrupted until the Covid pandemic of 2020. In the United States, the Phantom retains the title of the longest running Broadway show with 13,981 performances between 1988 and 2023. First edition with "fatal rocher" for "fatal nocher" on page 400. Fictitious mention of the "30th edition" at the back of the half-title and the "21st edition" on the wrapper. Other issues stating 12th and 20th editions are seen but the true number of printings in 1910 is unknown and likely much lower.
12mo (189 x 120 mm), (6), 520 pp. Untrimmed in the original publisher's four-color illustrated wrappers; upper wrapper and backstrip sunned, slight crease in lower wrapper, an astonishingly well preserved copy of a fragile book.
ß First edition of the Phantom of the Opera, a rare copy in original wrappers of the French gothic horror novel that became the basis of the longest running show in Broadway history, the second-longest running West End musical, and over $6 billion in worldwide ticket sales. LeRoux was a French journalist and mystery writer, inspired by real events at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris and by a love of Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in serial form in Le Gaulois from September 1909 to January 1910, and was later translated and serialized in both England and America. Stage and film adaptations followed, but it was Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical (a project which only took off when found and read a copy of LeRoux's original novel), which made the Phantom a household name. The original 1986 production starring Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford, and Steven Barton, won multiple awards, and West End performances continued uninterrupted until the Covid pandemic of 2020. In the United States, the Phantom retains the title of the longest running Broadway show with 13,981 performances between 1988 and 2023. First edition with "fatal rocher" for "fatal nocher" on page 400. Fictitious mention of the "30th edition" at the back of the half-title and the "21st edition" on the wrapper. Other issues stating 12th and 20th editions are seen but the true number of printings in 1910 is unknown and likely much lower.
Details
Title
Le Fantome de l'OpÈra
Author
LeRoux, Gaston
Condition
Unknown
Date
1910