The History of Don-Quixote.

CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de [Gustave Dore].

Item Number: 120562

London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, c. 1868.

Famous Doré illustrated edition of Cervantes, with 120 full-page wood-engravings and 257 head- and tail-pieces by Gustave Doré, engraved in the wood by Héliodore Pisan. Quarto, bound in contemporary three quarters leather, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, illustrations by Dore. With text edited by J.W. Clark and a biographical notice of Cervantes by T. Teignmouth Shore. In near fine condition.

“One can hardly deny that [Gustave Doré] is not merely one of the most popular but also one of the greatest of all illustrators… Don Quixote was a text calculated to test even Doré. He was matching himself against Coypel and Tony Johannot, not to mention the Spanish illustrators of the great Ibarra edition published in Madrid in 1780. He met the challenge superbly… At first he intended only 40 designs, but Cervantes’ book captured his imagination, and he arranged for a major work… Don Quixote and Sancho Panza reached their definitive rendering in Doré’s designs” (Ray, 328-29, 337). The English-language edition of Doré’s Don Quixote first appeared in 30 monthly parts, beginning in December 1864. In September of 1866 Cassell announced the publication of Don Quixote in book form. “In those two and a half years, Doré went from being virtually unknown in England to being the most famous illustrator in the world” (Malan, 67).