DORE (Gustave). The Legend of the Wandering Jew. Composition - Lot 84

DORE (Gustave). The Legend of the Wandering Jew. Compositions and drawings by Gustave Doré, woodcuts by F. Rouget, O. Jahyer and J. Gauchard, printed by J. Best. Poem with prologue and epilogue by Pierre Dupont. Preface and bibliographical note by Paul Lacroix, with Béranger's ballad set to music by Ernest Doré. P., Michel Lévy, 1856. Large folio, brown half-chagr. with corners, spine decorated, gilt head, n.r., ill. covers (Petit, Simier's successor). FIRST ISSUE of the most spectacular of Gustave Doré's illustrated books: frontispiece and 12 monumental plates. "Doré's masterpiece in the chaotic genre (...). And the format is fantastic" (Beraldi). In his preface, Paul Lacroix pays tribute to the virtuosity of the engravers: "The use of boxwood plates, which had not yet been adapted to works of such dimensions, enabled them to include in these large pages the finest and most finished works; they thus rendered, by means of wood engraving, tones and effects that we thought could only be obtained with metal engraving". Aware of the feat, Doré ceded his reproduction rights to the three engravers. "One cannot praise too highly the mastery developed here by the three engravers (...), skilful and happy interpreters of Doré, whose drawings they have executed on wood with a vigor of tone that is difficult to surpass" (Leblanc). Renonciat p. 92; Leblanc, 217. EXEMPLAIRE RELIE À L'EPOQUE by a master bookbinder, with the cover illustrated cover, which was protected as soon as the book was published. Ex-libris O'Reilly, Havre. EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION.