Franois Rabelais / Gustave Doré - The Works of Rabelais - 1873

Rabelais – The Works of Rabelais – Illustrated by Gustave Doré – Chatto & Windus – ca. 1870s – Hardcover

Description:
Scarce and beautifully illustrated 19th-century edition of The Works of Rabelais, featuring numerous full-page and in-text engravings by the legendary French illustrator Gustave Doré. Doré’s interpretation of Rabelais stands among his most imaginative and grotesquely humorous work, vividly capturing the exuberant, satirical spirit of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

This edition was published by Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly (London) in the 1870s–1880s, likely 1873, during the peak period of English-language printings of Doré’s major illustrated classics.


Format:
This is a hardcover large-octavo volume, bound in its original brown cloth with a gilt device to the front board. The book is complete, containing the full text along with numerous full-page engravings by Gustave Doré and additional in-text vignettes, including several of Doré’s most iconic grotesque plates depicting Gargantua as an infant, giants, battle scenes, and the exuberant carnival imagery for which he is celebrated.

Condition:
The binding remains solid, with only minor rubbing to the corners and spine ends. The interior is generally extremely clean, showing some occasional foxing or spotting on the preliminaries, typical of 19th-century paper. All Doré plates are present, printing strongly with excellent contrast, and the page edges show the light age wear one would anticipate from a volume of this period. Overall, this is a very good and well-preserved example of this highly collectible Doré-illustrated classic.


Gustave Doré’s illustrations elevate Rabelais’s exuberant Renaissance satire to a monumental visual experience. These plates are highly sought after by collectors of Doré and illustrated literature.

Shipping:
All our books are carefully fitted with acid-free book cover, carefully packaged and shipped with tracking.