François Rabelais. Œuvres de Rabelais. Illus. by Gustave Doré. Paris: A La Librairie Des Publications, 1857 2nd Edition. Binding Shepherds London.

Description: Rabelais, François. Œuvres de Rabelais. Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Paris: 1857 2nd Edition.

Condition: Near-fine interior with only very minor foxing; remarkably clean for the 1857 wood-pulp edition, with cover losses restored and conserved.

Binding: Fine Fine-Press Binding. Half green Morocco over cloth with marbled boards; spine with raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments, and gilt lettering. Hand-marbled endpapers.

Provenance: Signed binding by Shepherds (incorporating Sangorski & Sutcliffe), London (gilt-stamped to lower turn-in).

The Publisher & Date: The title page state Paris, 1857,  A La Librairie Des Publications Illustrees.

Dimensions & Format: quarto or small folio.

Illustration Count: This edition generally contains approximately 100 wood-engraved designs, by Gustave Doré.

Contributors: This version edited by Louis Barré, featuring a biographical notice on Rabelais written by P.L. Jacob.

Page Layout: Typically arranged in two columns per page.

An 1857 copy of Gustave Doré’s Rabelais illustrations is the second edition of the original J. Bry Aîné edition first released in 1854. When at 22-years-old Gustave Doré set about illustrating Rabelais’s novel concerning the giants Gargantua et Pantagruel, creating around 100 images that oscillate between the humorous and the unearthly, together these created a supernatural fantasy. The edition is highly regarded as it captures Doré’s early, raw wood-engraving style before the more polished, "monumental" luxury editions of the 1870s

A handsome, well-illustrated volume, recently rebound by Shepherds London, in green half leather and cloth-covered boards, spine with five raised bands, and gilt lettering on green Morocco. Binding sound and firm, top text block gilt. Internally, also sound and firm. Recent marbled endpapers and blanks, binder's gilt stamped signature below rear pastedown. Pages very lightly age-toned with minor foxing, scattered minor blemishes. Plates a little more age-toned. Text in French, in double column format.

Please see photographs.

Size - 340+6pgs.

Size - 11 ¾ inch (Overall Height)

Size - 8 ¼ inch (Overall Length)

Size - 1 inch (Overall Width)

Weight - 1.1kg.

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