THE WORKS OF MR. FRANCIS RABELAIS; Doctor in Physic. Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and his Sonne Pantagruel ... by Mr. Francois Rabelais ... 1653 / Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson / Complete in One Volume

London: The Navarre Society, 1954. Third Impression of 1948 Edition. Cloth. Very Good/None. W. Heath Robinson. Thick 8vo (8 1/2" x 5 3/4" x 1 3/4"), red cloth with gold lettering on spine; illustrated with B&W frontispiece, 53 full-page sketches, and many in-text vignettes by W. Heath Robinson; xviii + 332 pages. Weight: 2 lbs. 1 oz. François Rabelais (c.1494 - 1553) was a French Renaissance writer, physician, humanist, monk, and Greek scholar. He has been celebrated as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs. His best known work is Gargantua and Pantagruel. <br/> <br/> Gargantua depicts a young giant who is rescued from a deplorable education instituted by his father, old women, and dotty professors. Overcoming most obstacles, he becomes a cultivated and most-Christian knight, though his actions satirize chivalric ideals. In Pantagruel, the son of Gargantua, Rabelais further parodied chivalry and satirized major institutions such as the law, theology, and academia, even as Gargantua became a Renaissance man, divinely guided by a clownish though often wise companion named Panurge.<br/> <br/> William Heath Robinson (1872 - 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist. He is widely appreciated for his comic genius and his illustrations--among many other authors--of Poe's, Works; Cervantes', Don Quixote; and Rabelais (initially in 1921 via a private printing).<br/> <br/> SOLID, clean copy without any marks by previous owners or remaindering. Very slight uniform age-toning. A touch of wear to the corners.