The Fantastic Gustave Doré - by Alix Paré & Valérie Sueur-Hermel (Hardcover)

hands down, unequivocally, without a doubt, the most BEAUTIFUL book I have ever laid eyes on, let alone have the privilege to hold, flip through, and own. aesthetically: the hardcover has raised texture on it, as well as shiny gold accents that makes it POP. the white strip with the name of the book and everything is removable, so that you can have the cover be purely just that beautiful illustration. (idk what it's called but) the edges of the pages (when closed) are painted black with white text that reads GUSTAVE DORÉ | THE FANTASTIC | GUSTAVE DORÉ. and it's beautiful. the book: it's a curated selection of his works, not a complete collection, as I don't think a single book would be able to fit them all, but there's still SO MANY works here. it's a THICK book. pages have a really nice high quality paper feel to them, and the book is able to open quite well despite its thickness. they have some really cool but general information on his life and his career and stuff, which only takes up a small portion of the book, as the illustrations are the main focus, obviously. unlike many other art books, this truly is mostly illustrations, and the information they provide on the context of his works are brief yet informative. overalls it's just designed beautifully. page layouts, divider pages, spreads, text, everything. even if you're not a superfan, or haven't even heard of his name before, I would 100% recommend this art book. (I literally didn't recognize him name in the past, only his style of work.) a perfect 10/10 book that everyone should get