A large book full of engravings by Gustave Doré depicting scenes from The Bible, with explanations about the importance of the scenes as well as the artist’s technique.
Nowhere but in the Bible were dramatic textual material and the artistry of Gustave Doré more perfectly matched. The Book of Books seemed to unleash a new power of creation in Doré not apparent in his previous work. In the Creation scenes, the horrifying visions of the Flood, the battle sequences with their monumental crowds, the plates depicting the life of Jesus—many of which have now become the standard iconography—and finally the vision of the New Jerusalem, Doré reached the fullest expressions of his extraordinary talent.
In these plates, the artist not only captures the dramatic intensity of the Scriptures, but sustains it longer than any other single artist was able to do. In addition, Doré reimagined all the scenes, so that what he produced was not a mere reworking of what centuries of other artists had already done, but a new and fresh visual interpretation of the Bible.
Each plate is accompanied by the verses from the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible that the scene depicts. This is a sumptuous book that everyone, from those interested in Scripture to lovers of great art, will be proud to possess.
