François Rabelais / Gustave Doré - Œuvres de Rabelais - 1873

Superb illustrated set of this edition, which combines the bustling text of the Renaissance humanist with the visual imagination of Gustave Doré, whose spectacular engravings lend an epic and burlesque dimension to the adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

The first volume gathers the foundational stories, where verbal exuberance, parodying erudition, and satire of religious and political institutions unfold in an inventive language, nourished by neologisms and scholarly allusions, while Doré vividly illustrates bodily excesses, gigantic banquets, and grotesque scenes, emphasizing the carnival-like vitality of the text.

The second volume continues with the subsequent books, where the comedic vein is complemented by a philosophical reflection on education, freedom, justice, and knowledge, and where the utopia of the Abbey of Thélème or the Pantagruelian journeys open up to a critique of dogmas and a celebration of critical thinking.

François Rabelais / Gustave Doré - Works of Rabelais - 1873 - Volume I and II - Garnier Frères -
44, 476 - 496 pages.

Good condition of the bindings, books in their full red edition cardboard covers, with signs of use, cracked hinges with some small material losses especially on the hinges of the first volume, wear on the headbands and corners, marbled edges, smooth ornated spines, gilded titles and volume numbers, cold-stamped borders framing the covers, and gilded motifs on the covers.

Good interior condition, browning, beautiful initial capital, title in red and black, works enriched with numerous illustrations both in and out of the text by Gustave Doré, marbled endpapers in good condition.

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