Pelicans ISBN 0 14 02.2005 4 - In Defence of Opera

Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books, 625 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10022, U.S.A. Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada, L3R 1B4, Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

First published 1978 Published simultaneously by Allen Lane 1978

Copyright © Hamish F. G. Swanston, 1978 All rights reserved

Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Set in Bembo 10pt

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser