SEVEN-LEAGUE BOOTS 1885 Gustave Doré - Hop O’ My Thumb ANTIQUE ENGRAVING

Original 9 1/2 inch x 7 1/2 inch Engraving titled THE SEVEN-LEAGUE BOOTS.

”Hop O’ My Thumb is here seen pulling off the seven-league boots of the ogre while he is asleep, the brothers of the little hero meanwhile escaping as quickly as they can. The ogre is a giant of very French physiognomy, and does not look as if he would be savage, even if he awoke; but there is no knowing, ogres being a very fearful kind of wild-fowl, to adopt the language of Bottom. The drawing of the sleepy monster, huge and relaxed with slumber, is excellent; and the landscape is wild and strange.”

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883). The most popular and successful French book illustrator of the middle of the 19th century. Doré became widely known for his illustrations to such books as Danté’s Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large format. He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty wood engravers. His work is characterized by an eclectic mix of Michelangelesque nudes, northern traditions of sublime landscape, and a highly spirited love of the grotesque and bizarre.

Illustration from “Fairy Realm: a Collection of the Favourite Old Tales Told in Verse” published in 1865.

This edition from Cassell’s ‘Doré Gallery’ published in 1885.

Page size 12 1/4 inch x 9 1/8 inch

The engraving is in very good condition. Reverse side blank.