The Fantastic Gustave Doré • Alix Paré und Valérie Sueur-Hermel

From time to time I go looking for beautiful bibliophile books. In doing so, I came across this gorgeous illustrated volume and I simply had to have it. When I finally held it in my hands, it was clear that my first impression had been exactly right. The book is simply perfect, and even though I don’t usually feature English-language books here, I’m making an exception this time. Who Gustave Doré was, what makes this illustrated volume so fascinating, and what makes the book so magnificent — you’ll find out here. With plenty of photos, of course, because this is a book you simply have to show.

Until now, I only knew Gustave Doré as an artist through his works. That’s not surprising, since the illustrator, graphic artist, painter, sculptor and caricaturist was extremely prolific. He created over 11,000 illustrations and artworks in his lifetime, which works out to roughly 300 works a year on average. That’s quite impressive, especially considering how detailed his images often are.

Born in Strasbourg in 1832, Doré discovered his talent for art early on and began making his first drawings and sketches at the tender age of five. At eleven, he started work on his first drawings for Dante’s Divine Comedy. At thirteen, he came to Paris and published his first lithographs. At fifteen, in 1847, he took up his first job in journalism as an illustrator. From then on, he published countless works and illustrated books, poems, the Bible, fables and fairy tales, and much more besides.

This book presents a selection of his works, sorted by genre, showcasing his most beautiful images. It opens with novels, including the novella Atala, Balzac’s Droll Stories, and the famous novel Don Quixote. Doré also illustrated numerous poems. Paradise Lost by John Milton is one of the best known. This book with his illustrations is still available today. Dante’s Divine Comedy is likewise very well known, and his illustrations for it are simply magnificent.

I was especially pleased to find Poe’s The Raven in the book. Stylistically it’s a wonderful fit, and the images are lovely to look at. Doré’s images for Tennyson’s Idylls of the King were among my favourites, as they capture that beautiful King Arthur setting so atmospherically.

Doré also illustrated numerous fables and fairy tales. Sinbad the Sailor, the tales of Baron Munchausen, La Fontaine’s fables (which you come across as allusions especially often in Balzac) and Perrault’s fairy tales (and fairy-tale adaptations) were all illustrated by Doré.

Doré, who was himself deeply devout, published a Bible illustrated by him in 1866. Other artists had already dared to take on the project by that point, but Doré’s dramatic style, his phantasmagoric drawings and his powerful interpretation made it a huge commercial success. Even though biblical scenes are abundant in art, Doré’s works truly stand out.

The book also shows wars that Doré illustrated, such as the Crimean War or the Italian Wars of Independence. Doré travelled a great deal, and so, naturally, he also drew the places he visited, such as Spain or London. The book also includes a number of his caricatures (which I liked less).

Finally, the illustrated volume shows Gustave Doré’s paintings. While almost all of his images are lithographs, prints, etchings and so on — and therefore black and white — the painter surprises once again by presenting colourful, magnificent oil paintings. In my view, Andromeda is the most beautiful image. But in all the other paintings too, he proves that he was a master of colour as well. Oceanids, a maritime composition drawn from Greek mythology, is simply magnificent.

The book opens by introducing Gustave Doré and his life, achieved beautifully through nicely designed infographics and a clear layout, enriched with photographs of him. The various art forms — lithography, etching, wood engraving and so on — are explained very vividly with illustrations. So even someone with little background in art will quickly find their footing. Grouped by type (novels, poems, fairy tales, and so on), his most beautiful paintings are presented alongside the works they illustrate. It’s consistently well done and simply a pleasure to look through.

This isn’t a book you simply read from front to back. It invites far too much browsing for that. Short explanations put the stories and Doré’s interpretation into context. Every image is captioned and briefly explained. It’s simply a pleasure to leaf through this magnificent volume, to take in the images, and it’s also great fun to suddenly come across illustrations for books you’ve read yourself. It really is a lovely journey of discovery.

The book itself is very much a bibliophile object. It has beautiful, thick, pleasant paper, and the prints are very high quality, rich in contrast and detail. The volume has sturdy thread binding, and the half-cloth binding is a pleasure in itself. The design on the front cover is decorated and embossed in gold: you can actually feel individual elements of the drawing when you run your fingers over the front cover. Simply a delight. Even the fore-edge is printed with the title. The book sits really well in the hand and feels wonderfully substantial. The soft, fresh scent is remarkably pleasant too. The ribbon that slides over the front cover is another really lovely touch. The book isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every cent, because nothing was skimped on here. The only thing missing is a ribbon bookmark.

Verdict: This beautiful book is a magnificent volume. Gustave Doré’s illustrations are stunning, outstanding works of art. Anyone who reads a lot will find plenty to love here, since many of the books he illustrated will be familiar, and it’s a pleasure to discover Doré’s masterful visual interpretations. Illustrations for the great novels and poems of the past centuries, the Bible, fairy tales, fables and much more can all be found gathered in this book. Information about the artist and his artistic techniques rounds out the volume. With its high-quality production, the gold-embossed front cover, the fine paper, the sturdy thread binding and the consistently accomplished design throughout, this book is a pure celebration. This book is simply wonderful and will never again leave my little library.

Book information: The Fantastic Gustave Doré • Alix Paré and Valérie Sueur-Hermel • Prestel • 480 pages • ISBN 9783791379630