His Don Quixote hellip; from its first to its last page [is] a marvel of imagination; poetry; sentiment; and sarcasm. . . . People still speak of it only as Doreacute;s Don Quixote. mdash; Life and Reminiscences of Gustave Doreacute; Doreacute; himself had something of Quixotes chivalry and spent an arduous life drafting impossible dreams; he knew fame as well as pain; disillusionment; and failure. At age 30 he was ready for Quixote and prepared to realize his dream of illustrating the worlds great books.Doreacute; never became the painter he yearned to be; but he came very close to realizing his desired intimacy with the classics. His sympathy with Cervantes satire was so close that; of the numerous Quixote interpretations by many outstanding artists; Doreacute;s has become the standard. The French translation of Cervantes that Doreacute; illustrated is forgotten; here is the memorable remnant of that work mdash; all 120 full-page plates; plus a selection of 70 characteristic headpiece and tailpiece vignettes.As can be seen in the backgrounds; Doreacute; was ready professionally as well as emotionally for Quixote. He had traveled through Spain preparing an earlier work; and his graphic memory was as strong and indelible as that of another great Quixote interpreter; Picasso. From Sanchos village through Spanish hills and dry plateaus; in the Pyrenees and by the sea; in rural castles and Barcelona luxury; Doreacute; illuminated the seventeenth-century setting with a nineteenth-century acquaintance with the scene. Doreacute; was also a careful student of Renaissance costume and architecture; his minutiae; so copious; are invariably correct.Captions written especially for this edition describe the action with reference to the original Spanish text; capturing high points of the story. But of course Doreacute; conveys it all in a picture: the famous windmill charge; traversing the Sierra Morena; battling the Knight of the White Moon; visions of giants; dragons; flaming lakes; and damsels; the Dulcinea never found; all in full-page wood engravings. Doreacute;s marvelous penchant for ghostly effects in panoramic landscapes and seascapes finds large scope here; carefully engraved by one of the best of his longtime studio engravers; H. Pisano.Doreacute;s Man of la Mancha glows with the artists own enchantment and humor. Artists and illustration aficionados will add this royalty-free volume to other Dover editions of Doreacute;s works mdash; art he created to stand with great literature that now stands alone. Doreacute;s Quixote indeed stands alone; unique among the knights and graphic castles in Spain.
#730997 in eBooks 2012-12-06 2012-11-08File Name: B008TVES1E
Review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Charming reference but Kindle edition is too low resBy HyacinthAs other reviewers have mentioned. this is an interesting (if short) cross-section of clothing for sale from the upscale B. Altman Company catalogs during the 1920s. As someone researching fashion in the early 1920s. I appreciated the chronological ordering and the original product descriptions detailing price and materials.There were three problems with this otherwise pleasing collection. The first and biggest is that the graphics for the kindle edition are not high enough resolution. Text is illegible at normal kindle display size. and if you blow it up to a larger size (awkward to do in many kindle applications) the font is extremely fuzzy.A second. smaller irritation was the fact there are no dates on the illustrations (which would have been easy enough to include).The third issue I had was the brevity of this collection (128 pp.) Because it contains a little bit of everything. riding outfits. fur coats. undergarments. night-robes. baby accessories. the space devoted to adult clothing of the sort one might see at the theater. dining out. or an informal party ends up being quite small. For the early twenties. there was one illustration of "frocks" one of "skirts" and one of "gowns." which felt unnecessarily skimpy. A few more illustrations of what people wore between the undergarments and fur coats would have been appreciated.All in all. this is a fun book to browse through and provides a *slightly* better window into 1920s clothing than you can easily find on the internet. In my opinion. a larger selection and higher resolutuion images would have cinched an enthusiastic five stars.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very useful for the costumer or anyone interested in 20s fashionsBy zero347This book is great because it provides actual catalog photos and not just drawings. It also includes undergarments. pjs. shoes. outerwear and stockings which are harder to find pictures of. I enjoyed seeing what regular people like myself might have purchased from the department store rather than Hollywoods rendition of the time or just the clothing of the very wealthy. Also of interest are the models and what "good looking" was back then compared to those you would see in catalogs now. If anything. I would have like to have seen more as the book is quite brief.23 of 24 people found the following review helpful. Real 1920s fashionsBy B. WeavesThis is the real deal. Its what people really wore. not the weird fashion illustrations (although I enjoy looking at those. too). Its interesting to see how modern some of the items are. Id love to wear the shoes. coats and bags. and a few of the ladies sweater suits today. On the other hand. some of the clothing is incredibly oldfashioned.The ladies undergarments are a scream. You buy them by your chest size in inches. Notice that there is no "cup size" because these are designed to squash you flat into a tube. See item 4546: "Bust Supporter and Diaphragm Confiner of a strong quality of pick silk tricotine . . . giving a very flat appearance when worn with a very low top corset. Sizes 34 to 46. $5.00Also. some of the pictures are actually photographs and the models are very "chinny." The models are decidedly shorter and chubbier than todays models. and the flat chests make their chins look even bigger. Its interesting to see how the definition of "pretty" has changed over the decades.This is great inspiration for anyone interested in vintage clothing or clothing design. or just fun if you love fashion.
