99 - 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 a prologue and epilogue by Pierre Dupont. Preface and bibliographical note by Paul Lacroix, with Béranger’s ballad set to music by Ernest Doré. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1856. Grand-in folio, half-shagreen in tan, decorated spine, front cover. Consistent illustrations. (Modern binding).

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 a prologue and epilogue by Pierre Dupont. Preface and bibliographical note by Paul Lacroix, with Béranger’s ballad set to music by Ernest Doré. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1856. Grand-in folio, half-shagreen in tan, decorated spine, front cover. Consistent illustrations. (Modern binding). FIRST EDITION of the most spectacular of the books illustrated by Gustave Doré. Frontispiece (same composition as the cover) and 12 monumental plates. “Doré’s masterpiece in the chaotic genre (…). And the format is simply magnificent!” (Beraldi). In the preface, Paul Lacroix pays tribute to the engravers’ virtuosity: “The use of boxwood plates—which had not yet been adapted to works of such scale—allowed them to incorporate the finest and most accomplished work into these large pages; thus, through wood engraving, they rendered tones and effects that were thought to be achievable only through metal engraving.” Recognizing and appreciating this feat, Doré ceded his reproduction rights to the three engravers. “One cannot praise highly enough the mastery displayed here by the three engravers (...), skilled and inspired interpreters of Doré, whose drawings they executed on wood with a vigor of tone that is difficult to surpass” (Leblanc). Renonciat, p. 92. Leblanc, 217. Scattered rust spots; a 4-cm marginal tear on the cover, restored.