Just as Dante is hailed as the best of Italy's poets, The Divine Comedy is considered the greatest work of Italian literature. Inferno, the three-part epic's first and most popular section, chronicles the poet's journey through the underworld. This definitive edition ? translated by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ? features stunning engravings by the eminent 19th-century illustrator Gustave Doré.

Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265?1321) is best known for The Divine Comedy, a three-part epic poem that progresses from Hell (Inferno) to Purgatory to Paradise. Written in the vernacular, rather than Latin or Greek, Dante's masterpiece immediately found a wide audience; it is considered the greatest work of Italian literature and its author is regarded as the father of modern Italian. French illustrator Gustave Doré (1833?1883) began his prolific career at the age of 15, and his dramatic engravings have exercised an incalculable influence over latter-day artists. His remarkable scope includes scenes from Milton, Dante, Rabelais, Shakespeare, and the Bible, as well as street scenes of 19th-century London. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807?1882), author of The Song of Hiawatha and other beloved poems, was Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard University.