But right on top lay the sketchbook in which he’d been scribbling before he went to sleep. Picking it up, he stared bemusedly at the first drawing. Its subject—Death portrayed as a black-robed skeleton seated on the terrestrial globe—had been inspired by a line of poetry he’d read. The folds of the robe were a complete fiasco, the skeleton was anatomically inaccurate. Gustave tossed the sketchbook on the floor.
‘It’s an utter failure,’ he said softly. ‘Death was right: I must put in a lot more practice.’ He rubbed his eyes and gave a hearty yawn. Then he got up off the edge of the bed, tottered over to the window, and drew the curtains.
It was broad daylight.
The woodcuts reproduced in this volume are taken from the following works illustrated by Gustave Doré: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (see here, here); Orlando Furioso by Lodovico Ariosto (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here); The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (see here, here, here); Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (see here, here, here, here); Legend of Croquemitaine by Ernest l’Épine (see here); Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais (see here); Paradise Lost by John Milton (see here); and the Bible (see here, here).
For the benefit of those readers who would like to learn more about Gustave Doré, the following pages bear a chronology of the most important events in his life and a list of his principal works.
Anyone interested in reading an essay by Walter Moers on Gustave Doré and how A Wild Ride through the Night came into being should consult our website (www.wilde-reise.de).
List of Doré’s principal illustrated works (from Henri Leblanc)
1847
Les Travaux d’Hercule, Doré
1851
Ces Chinois de Parisiens, Album
Les Désagréments d’un voyage d’agrément, Doré
Musée comique, Album
Œuvres illustrées du bibliophile Jacob, Paul Lacroix
Trois artistes incompris et mécontents, Doré
Seul au monde, A. Brot
1852
Tableau de Paris, Edouard Texier
1853
Œuvres complètes, Lord Byron
1854
Le Médecin du cœur, A. Brot
Le Bourreau du roi, A. Brot
Les Différents publics de Paris, Album
Histoire pittoresque de la Sainte-Russie, Doré
La Ménagerie parisienne, Album
Gargantua et Pantagruel, Rabelais
1855
Contes drolatiques, Balzac
La Chasse au lion, Jules Gérard
Histoire populaire de la Guerre d’Orient, Abbé Mullois
Les Chercheurs d’or, J. Sherer
Voyage aux eaux des Pyrénées, Hippolyte Taine
1856
La France en Afrique, B. Gastineau
Contes d’une vieille fille, Mme de Girardin
L’Insurrection en Chine, Haussmann
La Légende du Juif Errant, Pierre Dupont
Le Chevalier Jaufre, Mary Lafon
L’Habitation au désert, Mayne-Reid
Mémoires d’un jeune cadet, V. Perceval
Refrains du dimanche, Plouvier et Vincent
Histoire de la cordonnerie, M. Sensfelder
1857
Géographie universelle, Malte-Brun
Fierabras, Mary Lafon
Nouveaux contes de fées, Mme de Ségur
Aline, V. Vernier
1858
Boldheart the Warrior, G. F. Pardon
The Adventures of St George, W. F. Peacock
1859
La Guerre d’Italie, Charles Adam
Batailles et combats de la Guerre d’Italie, various authors
Les Compagnons de Jéhu, Alexandre Dumas
Les Folies gauloises, Album
Essais, Montaigne
1860
Romans historiques, various authors
Le Nouveau Paris, La Bédollière
Histoire des environs de Paris, La Bédollière
Théâtre des opérations militaires en Syrie, Malte-Brun
Voyage aux Pyrénées, Hippolyte Taine—new edition
1861
Le Roi des montagnes, Edmond About
Histoire de Jésus-Christ, Abbé Bourasse
Inferno, Dante
Chansons d’autrefois, Charles Malo
Les Coulisses du monde, Ponson de Terrail
Le Chemin des écoliers, X. B. Saintine
1862
Les Aventures du Baron de Münchhausen, Théophile Gautier
Histoire de France, Victor Duruy
L’Espagne, Abbé Godord
Histoire populaire de France, various authors
Histoire de la Guerre de Mexique, La Bédollière
Contes et légendes, de Laujon
Histoire de la Capitaine Castagnette, L’Épine
Contes, Perrault
La Mythologie du Rhin, X. B. Saintine
1863
Don Quixote, Cervantes
Atala, Chateaubriand
Paris illustré, Adolphe Joanne
Bade et la Forêt-Noire, Adolphe Joanne
La Légende de Croque-Mitaine, L’Épine
Sous la tente, Charles Yriarte
1864
Histoires d’une minute, Adrien Marx
Histoires des chevaliers, Elizé de Montagnac
1865
Balle-Franche, Gustave Aiward
Crécy et Poitiers, J. G. Edgar
The Fairy Realm, Tom Hood
De Paris en Afrique, B. Gastineau
Les Mille et une nuits, Galland
L’Epicuréen, Thomas Moore
La Flêche d’or, M. V. Victor
1866
Le Capitaine Fracasse, Théophile Gautier
Paradise Lost, John Milton
La Sainte Bible selon la Vulgate
1867
The Pyrenees, H. Blackburn
Toilers of the Sea, Victor Hugo
Fables, La Fontaine
Coila’s Whispers, Knight of Morar
Le Page Fleur-de-Mai, Ponson de Terrail
Elaine, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Vivien, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Guinevere, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
L’Eau, Gaston Tissandier
1868
Purgatory and Paradise, Dante
Les Ardennes, Elizé de Montagnac
Enid, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Idylls of the King, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1869
Les Couteaux d’or, Paul Feval
Sonnets et eaux-fortes, various authors
1870
The Doré Gallery, Edmond Ollier
The Works of Thomas Hood, Hood
Le Chevalier Beau-Temps, L’Épine
Les Coulisses artistiques, P. Véron
1871
The Cockaynes in Paris, Blanchard Jerrold
1872
Histoire de la guerre de 1870–1871, La Bédollière
Les Races humaines, Louis Figuier
London: A Pilgrimage, Blanchard Jerrold
Histoire des Papes, M. Lachâtre
Hespérus, Catulle Mendès
1873
Récits de l’inWni, Camille Flammarion
L’Emigrant alsacien, Jacques Normand
Gargantua et Pantagruel, Rabelais—new edition
1874
L’Espagne, Charles Davillier
Histoire des Français, Théophile Lavallée
1875
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Coleridge
River Legends, Knatchbull
1876
Londres, L. Enault
Le Chevalier noir, Mary Lafon
L’Art en Alsace Lorraine, René Menard
1877
Histoire de paysans, Eugène Bonnemère
Nos petits rois, H. Jousselin
Histoire des croisades, J. Michaud
Montreux guide, Rambert
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p; 1878
L’Espagne, Edmondo de Amicis
Voyage autour du monde, Comte de Beauvoir
Voyage aux pays annexés, Victor Duruy
Le Coureur de bois, Gabriel Ferry
Voyage au pays des peintres, Marie Proth
Catalogue de la société des aquarellistes français
1880
Chacun son idée, Jules Girardin
Chansons choisis, Gustave Nadaud
Le Jour de l’an et les étrennes, Eugène Muller
Les Drames du désert, Noir
1881
En revenant de Pontoise, H. le Charpentier
L’Amérique septentrionale, Hippolyte Vattemare
1882
La Chanson des nouveaux époux, Mme Adam
Life of George Cruikshank, Blanchard Jerrold
1883
The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe
Catalogue de la société des aquarellistes français
1907
Versailles et Paris en 1871, Doré
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