Family Bible illustrated profusely by Gustav Dore


Published in 1890 by Holman & Co. in Philadelphia. Text in German. In original fine luxury binding with intricately tooled pictorial cover gilding, embossed and blind-stamped boards, metal clasps, silk moire endpapers, all edges gilt. Heavy, large folio, 12.5”x 10” and 4.75” thick. About 750 total pages. Thousands of illustrations, including hundreds of Gustav Dore steel-engraved plates, woodcuts, color maps and gorgeous full-color plates. It is a work of art and was extremely expensive back in its day. It was the premier Victorian Family Bible one could own.


***Examples of the deluxe Gustav Dore Bibles—like this one—but in high grade condition sell for as high as $2500 on rare book sites.***


Condition: Poor but a perfect candidate for a rebinding as it has a beautiful interior. Missing leather back strip, both boards detached. Missing metal clasp that connected to metal hinges. About 24 detached pages with tattered edges. A few other pages with tattered edges. Marks and chipping to silk moire endpapers. Toning along page margins and page edges. Signs of finger handling - smudges, some creased pages. Faded page edge gilding Very few areas with foxing, which is very light. Some page tears. Did not see any writing on the text block - one family section filled out by a prior owner (see last picture), stickers or ex libris marks.


Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré (UK: /ˈdɔːreɪ/ DOR-ay, US: /dɔːˈreɪ/ dor-AY, French: [ɡystav dɔʁe]; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravings illustrating classic literature, especially those for the Vulgate Bible and Dante's Divine Comedy. These achieved great international success, and he became renowned for printmaking, although his role was normally as the designer only; at the height of his career some 40 block-cutters were employed to cut his drawings onto the wooden printing blocks, usually also signing the image.


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