In Germany, Doré’s illustrations were published by Amelangs Verlag in Leipzig in 1877, accompanied by a German translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath.
Gustave Doré assembled a team of wood-engravers to assist him on his illustrated editions of “The Rime of the Ancient Mainer,” including: Désiré Mathieu Quesnel, Héliodore Pisan, Adolphe Gusman, Paul Emile Deschamps, Albert Bellenger, Firmin Gillot, Charles Laplante, Florentin Jonnard Pacel, and Adolphe François Pannemaker –the same team that helped him prepare Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Doré financed the entire project himself and spent an estimated £3, 500 because he wanted to maintain all control of his work.
Doré’s extreme tones of dark and light accentuate the grave and dramatic subject matter found in the poem.
Doré’s edition of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was an immense volume, with a gold-letter title, red cloth boards, and a title page with a vignette. The frontispiece was composed of fourteen pages, and was followed by thirty-eight folio plates. The poem had two vignettes at the beginning of the text and one at the end.
Doré’s unique illustrations are produced through the technique of photography on zinc. The photography of the original plate was transferred to a plate of zinc covered with sensitized emulsion, and was then treated with an acid resist.
In this selected image, Doré depicts Death and Life-In-Death playing a game of dice for the souls of those on the ship.
The quote inscribed is best translated in English to lines 197-198:
“The game is done! I’ve won! I’ve won!’/ Quoth she, and whistles thrice.”