Description

First Edition of “Doré’s chef d’oeuvre” (Bland). With one hundred and eighty truly brilliant engraved illustrations by Gustave Doré, including many folio size plates, each with descriptive tissue guard. Large Folio, in a stately and handsome binding of three-quarter blue-black polished calf over blue cloth covered boards, the spine with raised bands ruled in gilt, the compartments fully gilt decorated with panels incorporating double gilt fillet rules, corner and central tooling gilt, one compartment with a red morocco label gilt lettered, turnovers and borders of the calf ruled in gilt, the upper cover with gilt titling and authorship decoration, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. xii, 191, [10 Table of Contents and Table of Illustrations] pp. A handsome and stately copy, very sturdy and the binding strong and well preserved, the thick paper generally clean and crisp and solid. Some occasional foxing to some leaves as is normal with the book, more to the front preliminary leaves, some rubbing to the extremities, some age . A very well preserved copy.