The Vision Of Purgatory And Paradise By Dante Alighieri. Translated By The Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A., And Illustrated With The Designs Of M. Gustave Dore. New Edition. With Critical And Explanatory Notes.

London, Paris, New York & Melbourne : Cassell And Company, Limited, [ No date - c. 1896? ] .. A very good original19th century publisher's binding. Large heavy folio. 33.8cm x 27cm x 5.8cm. [ 13.25" x 10.25" x 2.00"]. pp.12/pp.337 . Maroon cloth, with gilt decorated front board and spine. Corners and hinges carefully strengthened. Edges lightly rubbed. Light soiling to endpapers. Small section from top corner cut-out. Clean frontis.Title-page in red & black. Clean text, illustrated with 60 full-page plates (as called for). Colophon to base of last leaf (p.337): "Printed By Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C." Libray stamp to front endpaper and title-page: "Repton School Library". Light foxing to the back of some plates and the adjacent page of text. N.B. Date of publication from COPAC (British Library) . ** " Gustave Dor� (1832 - 1883). French illustrator and etcher, born in Strasbourg, died in Paris. Famous for his printed illustrations of over 100 books, among which are the Bible, fairy tales (by Perrault) the works of Dante (Divina Comedia), Lord Byron and Cervantes (Don Quixote). Art connoisseurs consider Dor� a romantic exponent of the 19th century whose work is devoid of artistic value but whose importance lies in his contribution to the development of book illustration. Dor� did not manufacture all his engravings himself. In his studio his sketches would be transferred onto plates. At one time he had a staff of 40 working to meet the demand." - See Wikipedia . *** " Gustave Dor�'s (1832-1883) illustrations and Dante's Divine Comedy have become so intimately connected that even today, nearly 150 years after their initial publication, the artist's rendering of the poet's text still determines our vision of the Commedia. Planned by Dor� as early as 1855, the Dante illustrations were the first in a series he referred to as the "chefs-d'oeuvre de la litt�rature." In addition to Dante, Dor�'s list of illustrated great works included Homer, Ossian, Byron, Goethe, Racine, and Corneille. The placement of Dante's Commedia at the top of this list reflects the poet's popularity within mainstream French culture by the 1850s..." See - The world Of Dante by Aida Audeh Associate Professor of Art History, Hamline University . **** "Rev. Henry Francis Cary (6 December 1772 � 14 August 1844) was a British author and translator, best known for his blank verse translation of The Divine Comedy of Dante...Cary moved to London in 1808, where he became reader at the Berkeley Chapel and subsequently lecturer at Chiswick and curate of the Savoy Chapel. His version of the whole Divina Commedia in blank verse appeared in 1814. It was published at Cary's own expense, as the publisher refused to undertake the risk, owing to the failure incurred over the Inferno. The translation was brought to the notice of Samuel Rogers by Thomas Moore. Rogers made some additions to an article on it by Ugo Foscolo in the Edinburgh Review. This article, and praise bestowed on the work by Coleridge in a lecture at the Royal Institution, led to a general acknowledgment of its merit. Cary's Dante gradually took its place among standard works, passing through four editions in the translator's lifetime...." - See Wikipedia . ****** "John Cassell (23 January 1817 � 2 April 1865) was an English publisher, printer, writer and editor, who founded the firm Cassell & Co, famous for its educational books and periodicals, and which pioneered the serial publication of novels. He was also a well-known tea and coffee merchant and a general business entrepreneur. A fervent Christian, he campaigned throughout his life for the temperance movement in Britain, for the reduction of taxes on publishing, and was a social reformer who recognised the importance of education in improving the life of the working class, and whose many publications, both magazines and books, brought learning and culture to the masses.... Cassell visited America in 1853 to attend the "World Temperance Convention" in New York, and again in 1854 and 1859 on publishing business. He met the author Harriet Beecher Stowe and arranged for the publication of an illustrated edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in Britain - to great success. Cassell strongly supported the cause of the slavery abolitionists. In 1859, on his return from America, he went into full partnership with Petter & Galpin, the company becoming "Cassell, Petter & Galpin". The company was particularly successful in its production of illustrated editions of classic literature such as "Robinson Crusoe", "Gulliver's travels", "The Vicar of Wakefield" and others. The great French artist Gustave Dor� provided illustrations for Dante's "Inferno" (1861), "Don Quixote", and a special edition of the Holy Bible. The company's premises at La Belle Sauvage yard also gained the distinction of a visit from the French Emperor Napoleon III himself, as it was publishing the English edition of his book, "The History of Julius Caesar..." - See Wikipedia .