The artist Gustave Doré was a prolific visual artist who may be even more popular today than in his own time, as many of his fascinating illustrations have been appropriated and reproduced on the World Wide Web. In fact, a search done on June 29, 2004 on "Gustave Dore" using the Google Image Search Engine yielded 2850 image URLs in less than a second .

Special Collections has many works of a graphical nature in its various holdings, notably the Rare Books Collection. Among the noteworthy holdings are numerous cataloged and uncataloged works illustrated by the prolific Doré, whose illustrations ranged from the comical to the macabre and whose approach ranged from serious to whimsical.

In the display cases outside the public rooms in the department, Special Collections has mounted an exhibit of selected illustrations. Both old and recently published material was used in this exhibit, with all recent material exhibited coming from the extensive Dover reprint series on Doré. The public is invited to peruse this exhibit at least through the fall and winter months.

The illustrations below are found in the older, public domain materials housed in the Rare Books Collection. The photograph of Doré himself is found in various versions on the Internet and here has been cropped and reworked for clarity.

Gustave Doré as young artist

IIllustration from Aventures du Baron de Münchhausen, 1866

 

Illustration from Histoire de la Sainte Russie, 1854