An attractive Victorian edition combining Dumas’s lively observations of provincial France with a profusion of evocative illustrations depicting historic towns, landscapes, monuments and everyday life.

Bibliographic Details

Author: DUMAS (Alexandre, French novelist, dramatist and travel writer, 1802–1870).
Title: Pictures of Travel in the South of France. Illustrated with Fifty Engravings on Wood.
Place of Publication: London.
Publisher: Offices of the National Illustrated Library.
Date / Edition: No date [circa 1852].
Pagination: xvi, 301, [1] pages, including a publisher’s advertisement.
Illustrations: Engraved title page in addition to the letterpress title, full-page frontispiece and numerous wood engravings throughout the text; advertised as containing fifty engravings on wood.
Binding: Publisher’s original blind-stamped brown cloth, with gilt decoration and lettering to the spine; top edge gilt.
Size: 8vo (19.5 × 13.5 cm).

Condition

Good overall. The inner hinges are just beginning to start, although both boards remain attached and the binding is fairly firm. There is wear to the cloth at the head and foot of the spine, together with sunning to the spine and, to a lesser degree, the boards. Corners are slightly bumped, and the upper cover bears a few small marks.

Some foxing is present to the flyleaves. The text is generally clean and largely free from foxing, with only occasional scattered spots and a handful of handling or other minor marks. One gathering towards the rear is lightly age-toned, as are the frontispiece and engraved title page. Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report, or view the gallery images closely.

Description

An engaging illustrated account of Alexandre Dumas’s travels through southern France, combining the novelist’s instinct for anecdote and dramatic incident with descriptions of the region’s scenery, architecture, customs and history.

Although best known internationally for novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas was also a prolific and highly accomplished travel writer. His journeys supplied him with characters, legends, historical episodes and local colour, while his naturally expansive style transformed travel narrative into vivid literary entertainment.

In this volume, Dumas guides the reader through a succession of towns, monuments and landscapes, approaching each place with curiosity and an eye for memorable detail. Historical associations sit alongside personal impressions, humorous digressions and observations of provincial life, producing a narrative that is both informative and characteristically animated.

The text is enhanced by fifty wood engravings, including a full-page frontispiece, an additional engraved title and numerous illustrations incorporated throughout the narrative. These depict architectural landmarks, street scenes, landscapes and local subjects, providing a valuable visual record of France during the mid-nineteenth century.

The illustrations give the book much of its immediate appeal. Their picturesque treatment of churches, castles, bridges, ruins and rural scenery complements Dumas’s prose and creates a richly textured portrait of a region already celebrated for its artistic, historical and romantic associations.

Published by the National Illustrated Library, the volume belongs to a period when advances in wood engraving allowed ambitious illustrated books to reach a broad reading public. Such editions brought together popular literature, travel, history and visual culture in a form intended to be both attractive and accessible.

The survival of this copy in its original decorated publisher’s cloth adds considerably to its character. The blind-stamped boards, gilt spine decoration and gilt top edge preserve the appearance of a handsome Victorian gift or library volume rather than a later rebound copy.

As a work by one of France’s most celebrated literary figures, the book has appeal beyond conventional travel writing. It offers an accessible example of Dumas as traveller and observer, revealing the same energy, curiosity and storytelling ability that distinguish his fiction.

The combination of an important author, substantial illustrated content and attractive original binding makes this a desirable volume for collectors of French travel, Victorian illustrated books and Alexandre Dumas.

Notes

An appealing mid-nineteenth-century travel book in original publisher’s cloth, pairing Dumas’s energetic account of southern France with fifty atmospheric wood engravings.

Particularly suitable for collectors of Alexandre Dumas, French topography, European travel, Victorian illustration, wood engraving, picturesque architecture and nineteenth-century publisher’s bindings.