Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, Signed Custom Harcourt Binding

Binding Details:  Beautiful contemporary full leather binding by the Harcourt Bindery, Charlestown, Massachusetts bound in morocco leather that has raised bands to the spine, gilt titling, and decorative gilt motifs and ruling. There are marbled endpapers, hand-sewn silk headbands, and gold gilted top page ends. The Harcourt Bindery stamp appears in gilt on the bottom of the rear inside cover.

Book Details:   Originally published in 5 books during the course of the 16th century, this is the Heritage Press, New York edition published in 1942 that contains all five books in one volume and features 100 line-cut ink drawing illustrations by Lynd Ward. In her review, Yvonne Merritt wrote, “In Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais uses satire to address the dislocation felt by Renaissance Humanists. By providing an exaggerated fable, comical in nature, Rabelais poses a serious introspection into the extremes of both the Medieval and the Renaissance man. More importantly, however, he brings into question his own ideals of Humanism. Through an analysis of Rabelais’ satirical technique and by examining his social parody of the Medieval and the Renaissance man, we are able to better understand Rabelais’ introspection into the ideals of his own generation and to accept his argument that learning is transitory and often a necessary, yet futile, attempt to understand our world.”

Measures approximately 9.25” x 6” x 2” with 764 pages that include an introduction by Jacques LeClercq and an index for each of the 5 books.

Condition Report:  The binding is in Near FINE condition with some sunning to the spine. Internally, the book is very clean with no signs of previous ownership. Overall, this is a beautiful binding that houses one of the great works of literature.

A photograph of the binding appears in the photo section of the listing.