Doré's London: All 180 Illustrations from London, A Pilgrimage

by Gustave Doré

London in the middle of the 1800s was a subject endlessly sketched by artists, studied by social reformers, and discussed by writers. This comprehensive collection of drawings by Gustave Doré, France's most celebrated graphic artist of the period, presents a panoramic portrait of that engrossing city — from fashionable ladies riding in a sunlit park to ragged wretches in a shadowy side street. Here are amazingly perceptive sketches of workaday London, busy market places, the Christy Minstrels, a waterman's family, thieves gambling, the Devils' Acre in Westminster, flower girls, waifs and strays, a wedding at the Abbey, provincials in search of lodgings, a garden party, prisoners in the Newgate exercise yard, stalls at Covent Garden Opera House, and many other scenes that capture the London of a bygone era.

Genres: Art, London, Nonfiction, History, Historical, Victorian, Cities

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1872

About the author

The most popular and successful French book illustrator of the mid 19th century. Doré became very widely known for his illustrations to such books as Dante's Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large . He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty blockcutters. His work is characterized by a rather naïve but highly spirited love of the grotesque and represents a commercialization of the Romantic taste for the bizarre. Drawings of London done in 1869-71 were more sober studies of the poorer quarters of the city and captured the attention of van Gogh. In the 1870s he also took up painting (doing some large and ambitions religious works) and sculpture (the monument to the dramatist and novelist Alexandre Dumas in the Place Malesherbes in Paris, erected in 1883, is his work).

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

London Calling!

Almost through with my literary walk around the London Orbital in the company of Iain Sinclair, I deserve a break to rest my aching feet (figuratively speaking, of course, as I have made the walk in my mind, on my sofa, and have more pain in my back in real life). After hundreds and hundreds of smallprint pages describing the surroundings of the M25, I took the liberty of walking around inside London instead, over a century earlier, and visually, instead of textually, in the company of Doré.

Isn’t art (visual and literary!) the most amazing invention?

I can jump back and forth in time, explore the world in its strangest corners, and shapes, and all of that while I stay at home, listening to the rhythmic sound of the laundry getting done. I travelled to Paris with Daumier: 1808-1879 and Robert Doisneau. 1912-1994 the other week, and it is with a French artist’s eye that I visit 19th century London today. The illustrations reveal his familiarity with book illustration, and seem to be telling the stories of the great London novels of his time. He has an eye for settings that invite to further imagination, and deeper analysis of the details behind the evident surface. I think of Dickensian criminals when I see his prisoners marching in a circle in Newgate.



Who could not imagine Eliza Doolittle from Shaw’s Pygmalion in one of his flower girls?



There is high society and working class, public transportation and recreation. Sherlock Holmes comes to mind, especially in the night illustrations, putting the spotlight on the suffering poor in the London streets:



The crowds on the bridges by daylight show that London had a traffic problem long before Sinclair started exploring the perpetually congested M25:



If you want to have a good time, remembering all your own experience in that fascinating city, or dive into the visual world of your favourite Dickens novels, or just rest your feet from the walk around a modern highway, Doré is just the right pick. Apart from his excellent rendering of illustrations for the most beloved classics of world literature, he has also captured the story of the city of London in dark, yet loving pictures!

Recommended!

[E. G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Publisher's Note
List of Illustrations

--Doré's London: All 180 Images from 'London, A Pilgrimage'

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, haunting kaleidoscope of what life in 19th century London looked like.

Forget the glorious, booming industrial age metropolis which inspired steam punk; Doré offers an incisive peek into the brutal, relentless toil whose sweat and tears built the British Empire. When the pictures of the well-dressed, well-behaved, bored society appear, they look almost out of place. But they are in place; even if only to highlight the contrast to the city's not so fancy underbelly.

Garnished with Dore's incredible eye for a small, fleeting detail with which to complete and imbue with character his drawings, this collection made me wonder what a riot it would have been if he were to illustrate Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork.

[Douglas Summers-Stay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The descriptions are overwrought and meandering (typical for the time period), but the illustrations by Gustave Dore are incredible. We all have a picture of Victorian London from countless movies, but the fact that Dore was actually there shines through in every illustration. What he seems to have been struck by is the sheer number of people-- crowded streets with upturned carts and shoving in every direction, crowds watching the Oxford and Cambridge rowing teams, dangling from every tree branch over the Thames, street urchins bumping into ladies in piled-on gowns and hats. He captures each expression, each gesture, in an endless crowd. His ability to create highlights as well as shadows is unequalled by any other printmaker I know. They don't just cover tourist sites, like some other books I have from the period, but go into the docks and among the homeless, under the bridges and even into the opium dens. I recognized an image of "over London by Rail" that I had seen before in textbooks, and the final image, of the ruins of ancient London witnessed by some future Maori tourist, was especially striking.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's fun about Gustave Dore's London pictures is that they are a great historical document of London life and they also often serve as a nice commentary on the quality of life in London at this time.

I guess some contemporaries of Dore were bugged that Dore had so many pictures of the darker side of London - the poor, the homeless, the working & living conditions for London's lower class. Maybe these dissenters were also bugged by the fact that it's these pictures of London's dark side that really stand out in this collection. The sections on London's more prosperous citizens and their leisure, social activities (like "The Race", "The Derby" and "London on the Downs") feel a bit weak and weren't that engaging to me. But Dore also knows how to laugh at those upper-class citizens, too. Picture 105 of the Monkey House in Zoological Garden is a pretty amusing jab at those proper ladies pressed to the cage wire looking at the monkeys. The ladies look more caged than the monkeys do and I wonder who Dore thought was the bigger ape of the two groups.

I also love that the final two images of the collection are "The Angel and the Orphan" and "Infant Hospital Patients." Both images recall the injustices and sorrows attached to children, because of the social and cultural practices of the times. Children were too often severely exploited and abused, and I like that this collection ends with the children in mind. "The Angel and the Orphan" shows the angel cradling an orphan child while knocking on a door. The image recalls Christ's words in Matthew 25:35, where he states "I was a stranger and ye took me in." Christ explains this statement in verse 40 to mean that "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Thus, for a Christian community like London (or Dore's France), it is ones Christian obligation to care for and love ones neighbor. "The Angel and the Orphan" wraps up this nice collection by reminding a predominantly Christian population of their Christian obligation to their neighbors, and "Infant Hospital Patients" I think suggests that more can be done to "lift up the hands which hang down" (Heb 12:12). This probably was not the message London's bourgeois culture wanted to hear. No wonder some people were bugged.

[Anthony Blount · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Dore's grander thematic art for Dante and other Biblical themes, and being able to see his more mundane art of London's Victorian streets was very interesting. His use of light is always striking, especially lamps at night and moonglow. I was also struck by the liveliness of the Londoner's faces, since these are much more intimate portrayals based on real experiences. Very cool book.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing images, depicting a London more reminiscent of modern India in its overcrowding.

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't stay concentrated on the text while reading Jerrolds writing. It seems to go from one point to another without it being a logical story. And this edition is full of typos which makes it even more difficult to read 150 years old English for an non-native.
ANYWAY - the actual reason I bought this book is of course Gustave Doré's illustrations, and they don't disappoint. In fact, they are beyond amazing. They provide a very clear image of all aspects of what London was like in 1872. The busy streets, the means of transport, they show rich and poor parts of the city, work and leisure, fashion... Doré is a true master in his profession - I admire his play with light and shadows.
So I wouldn't recommend the book for the written report, but recommend it highly for the pictures.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can get past the florid Victorian prose, sentimentality, and imperialist prejudices, this is a rare and valuable peek into London as it was. Dore's etchings overflow with figures, crammed into every corner. A few faces have real character, though the faces of women and girls are largely blank and expressionless. The images are useful for costume and architectural research. The text is full of detailed descriptions of the industry, work, and pass times of Londoners, if biased toward the educated classes.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of Dore’s best work (and this from the man who set the gold standard for all to follow). This handsome volume has over a 180 illustrations of day to day life in London of the mid 19th century. Beautiful and horrible at the same time. An absolute must have.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good record of 1800s London. Incredibly detailed. It reminded me of the artist FS Smith but as well as recording the architectural details of buildings, Dore records the lives of Londoners. It can be caractured at times but it's a great record. The book includes a good amount of drawings and at a good size and reasonable quality. The book could benefit with a longer and more detailed introduction and captions.

[Ray Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is AMAZING. Very, very detailed drawings of all aspects of Victorian London society, from the high to the low. The scenes captured are often so strange, they almost look sci-fi or some weird dystopian alternate reality (just look at the cover drawing!). They make me want to read more Dickens novels.

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working largely with the illustrations, a most excellent experience.

[Laurence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dore's skills are incredible, but the selection here didn't generally inspire me much. Some of the scenes were undeniably amazing, but I tend to gravitate more to his fantastical work.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sono illustrazioni su Londra realizzate da Dorè, cosa volete di più?

[David Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - Illustrations are mind-blowingly vivid, beautiful, honest and genuinely moving at points. Makes you empathetic for people who lived over 150 years ago. The descriptions are classic victorian flowery meandering passages which often digress; but they definitely have their moments and play their role in emulating and elevating the illustrations well.

[Matthew Pritchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and evocative peek into Victorian London. Blanchard Jerrold provides the narrative, describing a journey through the city's most famous (and infamous) spots, while Doré's brings these to life with his breath taking illustrations.

[Staś · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for Doré, but only one for print quality in this etition.

[Alan Mackay · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the illustrations.

[Mylesgorton · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderfully evocative drawings of the 1800s in London.