New Acquisitions Spring 2022 – 18 – Bauman Rare Books Doré’s Magnificent Illustrated Folio Edition Of Tennyson’s Idylls Of The King, With 37 Impressive Steel Engravings 20. (DORÉ, Gustave) TENNYSON, Alfred. Idylls of the King. London, 1868. Thick folio, contemporary full red morocco gilt. $6500. First edition of Tennyson’s Arthurian classic with illustrations by Doré, boasting 37 masterful full-page steel engravings by him printed on papier de chine and mounted, magnificently bound in full morocco-gilt. “By the early 19th century, the Arthurian legends had become a literary anachronism. Tennyson’s poetry brought about a rebirth of interest in the material and eventually placed it on a new plateau of respect and significance for writers and artists” (Lacy, 446). “In 1867 and 1868, Moxon published four folio volumes, one devoted to each of [Tennyson’s] original idylls”—Enid, Elaine, Vivien and Guinevere, first published together in a single volume in 1859; the first complete publication of the eventual 12 idylls together would not occur until 1891—“for which Doré created illustrations with powerful, almost overwhelming, landscapes and Gothic architecture” (Lupack, Arthuriana 21.2, p. 95). Owner ink signature, dated 1890, on title page. Text and plates generally quite clean, minor markings and discoloration to morocco, gilt bright. A very handsome copy of this stately illustrated folio. “A volume worthy of its literary and religious significance.”— Lewis, 19CRS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=