2 volumes. In folio (405 x 312 mm). 1069 pages; 932 pages. Title pages with woodcut frieze, two-column text with footnotes, interspersed with woodcut friezes in natural forms where animals intertwine with sinuous lines and floral motifs, executed by Enrico Giacomelli in the Art Nouveau style. With 230 stunning woodcut plates, ranging from Genesis to Revelation, spanning the 73 books of the Bible; from the creation of light, through a series of often moving scenes, we arrive at the heavenly Jerusalem, the apocalyptic vision that seals the Scriptures. Contemporary green half-leather and percale, gold-stamped title on the spine and gold friezes. A fine example featuring old restorations to the endpapers, slight foxing, and abrasions to the edges, hinges, and binding caps. The first Italian edition of the artistic masterpiece that brought Doré universal fame. The Holy Bible, commissioned from Doré in 1864, was published in its first French edition in 1866. The French illustrator devoted himself to this work with extraordinary passion and enthusiasm, relying on his imagination but also taking advantage of the first photographs arriving from Palestine at the time. Gustave Doré (Strasbourg 1832 – Paris 1883) was Europe's most celebrated engraver. He explored Rabelais, Balzac, Dante's Divine Comedy, Cervantes' Don Quixote, Milton, La Fontaine, and Ariosto, shaping the imagination of his time. Doré's representation of the Old Testament is above all epic, unlike that of the New, which could be defined as "dramatically Caravaggesque. Doré transforms and translates the verses and the voice of the poets into images, but he is not only a narrator, he is a dramatic narrator and playwright." In the images, the play of light and shadow, chiaroscuro, good and evil is decisive, accentuating the drama of the subjects. Among the most beautiful scenes are that of the three youths in the furnace (Dan 3:14-24), Jonah rejected by the great fish (Jonah 2:1-11) and the birth of Jesus, with the divine child who, as in other famous paintings, is himself the light that illuminates the bystanders (Luke 2:6-20). Also marvelous are the calming of the storm (Mark 4:35-40) and Jesus who, with his "usual" raised arm, walks on the waters, thus demonstrating his mastery over evil. (Mt 2:14-24) 14,22-32). All the plates bear Doré's signature at the bottom left, while the name of the collaborator appears at the bottom right, above all that of his friend Heliodore Joseph Pisan. This valuable edition is translated according to the Vulgate by Antonio Martini (Prato 1720 – Florence 1809), an Italian Catholic archbishop, scholar, and biblical scholar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Florence, and a scholar and translator of the Bible. Martini's Bible went through more than 40 complete editions in the 19th century; at least 23 appeared between 1826 and 1857, and it was the Italian Catholic Bible par excellence until at least the first half of the 20th century.