Books

Large folio (50 x 41 cm). Half title, Title, Frontispiece, (iv), 5 - 12 pp texts + 39 full-page plates by Dor� (including frontispiece). The pages are mounted on hinges and some are slightly detached. French publisher's red cloth binding. Blindstamped border and bronze lettering. Some soiling to the binding. On the front cover the title in French: "La Chanson du Vieux Marin" and the text: "Offert par le XIXe Si�cle � ses abonn�es".Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 -1834) was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (first published 1798) is his longest major poem and in the present edition is accompanied by thirty-eight magnificent plates by renowned French artist and illustrator, Gustave Dor�. The poem describes the experiences of a sailor whose ship is forced by a storm into Antarctic waters. Along the way, the mariner encounters an albatross who guides the ship and its crew out of the ice and into calmer waters. To the crew's initial dismay, the mariner kills the albatross, a mistake for which they will all dearly pay. Gustave Dore (1832 - 1883) illustrated works of major poets, including John Milton, Dante and Lord Byron. Word of his talent spread quickly throughout Europe and he was asked to illustrated a version of the English Bible, which was extremely popular, allowing for the foundation of his own gallery, the Dor� Gallery. In-folio, percaline rouge, d�cor estamp� � froid, titre dor� en fran�ais sur le premier plat. Premi�re �dition illustr�e par Gustave Dor�, donnant le texte anglais et sa traduction fran�aise par A. Barbier. L'illustration comprend un frontispice et 38 compositions hors texte grav�s sur bois. (cartonnage frott�, quelques rousseurs).London, Dor� Gallery - Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1876. (Second edition, the first is dated 1875, but first bilingual). . The first four pages contain a translation in French by A. Barbier of this famous poem. Pages 5-12 contain the original text in English.