Although he painted many large compositions based on historical and religious themes, Dore is primarily known for his engraving. Between 1848 and 1851 he worked as a lithographer for the weekly Parisian Journal pour Rire. Later he focused on wood-engraved book illustration, and along with the more than 40 woodcutters under his charge, produced over 90 illustrated books, including Dante's Inferno (1861), a Bible (1866), and Balzac's Les Contes drolatiques (1855).