Full Morocco Bindings. Dore (gustave, Ill. De) - The Holy Bible. 1866. Complete.

BOURASSE & JANVIER - DORE (Gustave, ill. of) - GIACOMELLI (Hector, ornaments of). The Holy Bible - New translation according to the Vulgate. Tours, Alfred Mame et Fils, 1866. 2 vols. in folio format (423 x 308 mm) of 1 f. bl., 3 ff. n.fol., 1 frontispiece n.fol., 1 plate n.fol., 909 pp. and 1 f. bl. ; 1 f. bl., 1 fnfol., 1 frontispiece n.fol., 948 pp., 1 fnfol. and 1 f. bl. Uniform bindings of the period in full old-red morocco, large frame decoration with golden fillet including motifs in the Egyptian style and double serpents with widely spread wings, ribbed spine decorated with black bold, quadruple framing boxes gilded, golden fillets forming geometric figures, golden title, golden volume volume, golden edges, sinusoidal fillet and golden dotted lines on the cuts, golden interior lace. Partly original edition; complete with the two volumes constituting it. Books covered in superb “Egyptian style” full morocco bindings. The two copies that belonged to Gustave Doré were also bound in this way. The set contains 230 plates engraved on wood out of text by Gustave Doré. If 13 of these large compositions were deleted in this second edition, this edition contains, compared to the first published the same year, ''15 new subjects, 22 redone and 11 retouched''. ''Capital work and remarkable for its illustration: Doré was in complete mastery of his art.'' (in Carteret). ''The iconography is completed by magnificent ornaments engraved after the compositions of the painter Hector Giacomelli, formed from 'intercolumns, cul-de-lampe and fleurons of great finesse and clarity, contrasting with the powerful and contrasting drawings of Doré''. ''This work remains a true reference in editions of the Bible .'' "The Old Testament suited Doré's imagination perfectly; exotic landscapes, wild elements, sumptuous architecture, a whole setting where he staged the biblical characters in a masterful way... Of all his works, the Bible was the most universally widespread. The illustrations of the Old Testament were even enlarged and presented as a slideshow." (Catalogue of the Gustave Doré exhibition, Strasbourg, 1983, p. 253). This is one of the great undertakings of the artist, which suited his imagination perfectly. Zola, in Mes Haines, devoted a few paragraphs to the work: ''I wonder what the great inner vision of the artist was, when, having decided that he would undertake the hard work, he closed his eyes to see unfold the poem in imaginary spectacles... He is lost in this immense vision, he had supreme joy in feeling that he was leaving the earth... and that his imagination would be able to wander at ease in nightmares and the apotheoses." Carteret III, Le Trésor du bibliophile, p. 89 - Dézé, Gustave Doré, p. 68 - Leblanc, Gustave Doré, p. 47 - Reeds & Forgeot catalog, n°37 - Béraldi VI, 44. Angles and worn caps. Some scattered rubbing affecting the bindings. Small brown mark at the tail of the spine of one of the volumes. First notebook of the first volume slightly out of alignment and, in fact, very slightly frayed. Some foxing in the text.