Gargantua and Pantagruel

First issued in parts from the 1530s, these five books follow the giant Gargantua and his son Pantagruel through births, wars, and a long search for the oracle of the Divine Bottle. Rabelais mixes chronicle, mock-epic, and learned joke: the Abbey of Theleme, Panurge's questions about marriage, the frozen words, and catalogues of food, fools, and books. The language is vernacular French stuffed with Latin, slang, and lists. The work satirises scholastic education, monks, and war while praising drink and humanist learning. It is a comic prose epic, not a children's giant tale and not a single plotted novel.

Quarter-bound in goatskin leather with cloth sides blocked in gold foil on front and spine. 61 full-page engraved illustrations. 658 smaller engraved illustrations. Numerous ornamented initials throughout. Handmade cloth-bound slipcase printed in gold with designs by Doré. Gilded top edges. Ribbon markers.