Dore's Illustrations for "Idylls of the King" (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) [Paperback]

Gustave Dore (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Fine Art, History of Art | Publication Date: June 23, 1995

Chivalry and romance of the Middle Ages, dramatically and powerfully depicted in 36 splendid illustrations, recapture the romance of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere, the tale of the fair Elaine, and more. Accompanied by appropriate quotes from Tennyson's poem.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (June 23, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486284654
• ISBN-13: 978-0486284651
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some of Arthurian Legend's Most Exquisite Illustrations, November 26, 2001

By 

Terrie (Little Chute, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dore's Illustrations for "Idylls of the King" (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) (Paperback)

Gustave Dore first published these intricate and beautiful wood-engraved book illustrations for Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" in the 1860s. Though many, many fabulous illustrations have been created for the legends of King Arthur and his Court these still remain among the finest. This book contains 36 black and white plates, each 7 1/2" x 10" and thus nicely sized for optimal viewing of the exquisite detail. A corresponding excerpt from "Idylls of the King" is printed on the facing page of each plate. Dore captured the grandeur and opulence of courtly life, the mystery and magic of the legendary times of Arthur and Merlin, the medieval costumes, furnishings and architecture all with a brilliance that will transport you. Highly recommended!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A LOVELY PRODUCTION, October 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dore's Illustrations for "Idylls of the King" (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) (Paperback)

Unless you have a couple of thousand to plunk down on the first edition of the Idylls, published by Moxon, in the 1860s, in four folio volumes, then this edition is the next best thing. The illustrations are lovely and help to uplift Tennyson's verse. In fact, Dore becme so popular that this edition was often referred to at the time as "The Dore Tennyson," and rightfully so. Dore ismakes Tennyson's verse much better than it actually is; Tennyson, even though great, has a tendency to be somewhat maudlin and laboured in his retellikng of Idylls. If you enjoy Arturian Verse, I suggest you examine Swinburne's work in this area, or the little known Charles Williams, a contemporary of Swinburne's and in this reviewer's opinion the finest Arthurian poet of all. William Morris and Matthew Arnold have also done some interesting things.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rescaling has degraded the images., August 24, 2011

By 

Richard Christie (NZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dore's Illustrations for "Idylls of the King" (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) (Paperback)

I have a leather bound edition of the Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson published MacMillan London 1884, printed 1894 by R & R Clark.

I have long admired the eight Dore prints that it contained for the Idylls. These prints measure 8.5 by 11 cm or just under 3.5 by 4 inches.
The tone of the original prints is wonderfully sombre.

I am greatly disappointed by the Dover reproductions. In my view scaling the works up to 19.9 by 26 cm has completely destroyed the tonal character when compared to those in my 19th century edition. I stress, the tonal character has been altered for the worse. They now look rather washed out. I cannot understand another reviewer's viewpoint that the prints in the Dover edition look too dark. In addition, the scaling has introduced engraving detail that detracts from the images, an analogy is enlarging a digital picture until the individual pixels become apparent, it does the original conception no good at all. Presumably (I'm no printing industry expert) the prints on the 1884 edition are the originally intended size and Dore engraved with a certain level of detail in mind as they certainly work well at that scale.

I am however very grateful to have the complete set. I had planned to use this edition to have them framed.

Alas no, they will have to be further scanned and then reduced in size, hopefully I'll be able to recapture the original intent.