The Fantastic Gustave Dore

The Fantastic Gustave Doré, by Alix Paré and Valérie Sueur-Hermel / ISBN 9783791379630 / 480-page hardback, 8.38 x 10.5 inches, published by Prestel.

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This glorious, authoritative, and unprecedented retrospective of Doré’s prints and paintings, drawn from an oeuvre of more than 10,000 works, comes in a spectacularly ornate package that reflects the artist’s own dramatic style.

If you were a consumer of literature in the nineteenth century, chances are the volumes in your library featured the illustrations of Gustave Doré.

From the Bible to Shakespeare, Balzac to Milton, Cervantes to Poe, Doré’s intricate, romantic, and exuberant drawings brought great works to life, and were as treasured as the stories and poetry they depicted. Furthermore, as this magnificent book reveals, he was also a skilled sculptor, painter, and cartoonist.

This book spans Doré’s entire career, with chapters dedicated to specific works such as The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and medieval fairy tales—each featuring exquisite full-page reproductions that allow Doré’s genius for line, shading, and texture to shine through. The authors also provide a background on the techniques that Doré employed to achieve his exquisite works. Fans of Doré will appreciate this volume’s spectacular production, which features quarter binding, gold foil stamping, embossing on the cover and spine, a belly band, and silkscreen printing on three edges.

Filled with incisive analysis and expert historical perspectives, this book is the consummate collector’s item—a volume as expansive and sensational as the artist himself.