Tall 8vo. Blue cloth gt. Profusely illustrated with photo. plates. 335 pp. Colour on spine faded to grey, gilt lettering is NOT faded. 2 very small marks lower spine. Some foxing inside, with a few pages a bit "blotchy". Else very good. LOOSELY LAID in is a newspaper cutting showing her funeral procession in Melbourne (this cutting has browned the 2 pages). Else very good. The Life Story of the Great Prima Donna, one of Australia’s national heroines, an operatic soprano, created a DBE in 1918. Her popularity was so great that Escoffier named his ice cream dish "peche melba" after her. "Melba toast" is also named after her. She married Charles Nesbitt Armstrong in 1882, and in 1886 went to Paris. In 1887 she made her debut at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, as Gilda in Rigoletto; She gave her last performance at Covent Garden in 1926 and then returned to Australia where she became president of the Melbourne Conservatory.

MUSIC Biography Music Australia, peach melba, melba toast, opera melodies soprano,