INSCRIBED BY TENNYSON TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW AT CHRISTMAS IN THE MONTH OF PUBLICATION: DORÉ’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR TENNYSON’S ELAINE

(DORÉ, Gustave) TENNYSON, Alfred. Elaine. London: Edward Moxon, 1867 [i.e. 1866]. Large folio (12-1/2 by 16-1/2 inches), original brown pebbled cloth, beveled edges, ornamental gilt cover border and centerpiece, all edges gilt.

First Doré-illustrated edition of Tennyson’s Elaine, one of the four stories that made up his poetic treatment of the Arthurian legend, Idylls of the King, with nine rich, full-page steel engravings by Doré. Inscribed immediately upon publication, “Henry Sellwood from Tennyson, Xmas 1866,” on the verso of the frontispiece.

Tennyson “was one of the finest lyrists of the English tongue… There are besides in all his non-lyric poems passages of profound meditative music. Half at least of what he wrote the world would not willingly let die. Tennyson in a sense is England’s Virgil… [and] with Tennyson’s death in 1892, a great epoch of English poetry came to a close” (Kunitz & Haycraft, 612-13). This wonderful production by publisher Edward Moxon, with nine steel-engraved Doré illustrations, was the first in a series of four stories, each to be published separately and then combined later as Idylls of the King. They appeared in three formats: regular folio with steel engravings (offered here); portfolio with photogravures of Doré’s paintings; and a set of signed proofs. “Moxon was the only publisher ever to commission steel engravings from Doré. His total cost for these editions must have been staggering… [He] published 42 Doré folios of Tennyson and Hood in 12 years… The steel engravings give much more of a speckled look to the scenes, different from the grainy look of Doré’s usual wood engravings. It produces a dreamy, mystical, serene [feeling] that is quite different for Doré” (Malan, 97). “Elaine” first appeared in 1859 as part of Idylls of the King, without illustrations—Doré’s version came out in December of 1866 to rave reviews. Malan, 303. The recipient of this copy, Henry Sellwood, was the father of Emily Sarah Sellwood, whom Tennyson courted as early as 1839 (when he was too poor to support a wife) and whom he eventually married in 1850 (still too poor to support a wife, though on the verge of becoming Poet Laureate). Henry Sellwood died not long after this book was presented to him. Bookplate and deaccession stamp of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Text block expertly recased and resewn with original endpapers and pastedowns preserved, original cloth expertly restored, gilt bright. A wonderful presentation/association copy, in excellent condition.