Oeuvres de François Rabelais. Contenant la vie de Gargantua et celle de Pantagruel. - Illus. Gustave DORÉ (1854)

Item Details

Paris, J. Bry Ainé, 1854, hardcover

Very good++

Full title page text: "Oeuvres contenant la vie de Gargantua et celle de Pantagruel augmentées de plusieurs fragments et de deux chapitres du Ve livre restitués d'après un manuscrit de la Bibliothèque Impériale précédées d'une notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de Rabelais augmentée de Nouveaux Documents Par P. L. Jacob. Nouvelle édition [.] sur les travaux de J. Le Duchat et de S. De l'Aulnaye, éclaircie [.] par Louis Barré. Illustrations par Gustave Doré"

Paris, J. Bry Ainé, 1854, In-4 volume (29 x 19.5 cm); well-made custom period binding in honey-colored half-maroquin. 339 pages. Complete
Minor handling marks. Interior in impeccable condition.
First edition of the illustrations by Gustave Doré, comprising: a frontispiece and 14 separate plates (featuring 15 engravings in total; plate number 7 contains 2 engravings) and 89 vignettes engraved by Sotain. A very well-preserved copy in a fine honey-colored half-maroquin binding, with a ribbed spine decorated with fine dotted lines, bold cold-stamped fillet borders, and a mosaic title label.
This was Doré’s first major work as an illustrator of literary masterpieces (Vicaire VI, 925–926).
Some of his engravings would be reprinted the following year in Bazlac’s *Contes drolatiques*.
Leblanc: “Doré has truly evoked and reconstructed the entire Middle Ages; he has borrowed its fantasy and its philosophy,” and Carteret: “This popular work is highly sought after for Gustave Doré’s powerful compositions.” Brivois adds: “Of all the illustrations made for Rabelais, those by G. Doré are among the most successful.” Leblanc, 285. Carteret III, 510. Vicaire VI, 925. Brivois 346.
A fine copy, free of foxing.