1879 Scarce Book ~ The Story of Arthur and Guinevere illustrated by Gustave Doré.
Author : Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Title : The Story of Arthur and Guinevere and the fate of Sir Lancelot of the Lake as told in Antique Legends and Ballads, and in Modern Poetry, with 9 illustrations by Gustave Doré.
Publisher : London, E. Moxon, Son And Co., no date (circa.1879).
Language : Text in English.
Size : 14 "X 10 ".
Pages : 66 pages.
Binding : Good and still attractive decorated full cloth binding (hinges fine, overall worn, scuffed and slightly soiled- as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content : Good content (bright and tight, endpaper inner hinges worn but still tight, one plate has been repaired from the back by a previous owner, some protective blank tissue sheets missing, some foxing or staining, gift note of a previous -1895-owner on first blank endpaper - as shown). A rare find in any condition!
Illustrations : Complete with the 9 wonderful full page illustrations by Gustave Doré.
The book :Scarce and attractive illustrated Victorian edition of The Story of Arthur and Guinevere and the fate of Sir Lancelot of the Lake. The influence of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poetic retelling of the Arthurian legend on generations of Victorian readers and beyond is well known. Tennyson's poetry celebrates the age of chivalry and its finest example, Arthur, from a typical Victorian perspective, hailing manhood and blaming female agency for the destruction of the Round Table. These fine examples of the history of printing Arthurian literature bear witness to the melancholic and entrancing quality of both Tennyson's poetry and Doré's illustrations.
The illustrator : Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré (6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, printmaker, illustrator, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor who worked primarily with wood-engraving.