Victor HUGO

First edition, with edition statement and title-pages printed in red in the first two volumes (the opening part, Fantine), and without edition statement in the remaining eight volumes. An issue printed only a few days after the earliest issue. Copies combining first-issue volumes with volumes bearing title-pages carrying edition statements reflect the publication history of the work and the publisher's editorial practice.

Contemporary half chocolate morocco bindings. Spines with raised bands, richly gilt with floral tools. A few scratches to the covers. Minor rubbing. Leaf 150 of Volume I detached but present and neatly inserted. A remarkably fresh copy with only a few...

Autograph manuscript signed of Victor Hugo’s “Ballade du fou,” sung by the jester Elespuru in his play Cromwell (IV, 1). Two pages on a folded leaf backed with green glazed paper.

Exceptional autograph manuscript of Victor Hugo’s most celebrated poetic song, performed by the jester Elespuru in his resounding drama Cromwell.

Both grotesque and exalted, this piece embodies the freedom of Romantic drama championed by Hugo in the play’s famous preface: as noted by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, this song “is the only passage in the play as equally famous as its...

First edition.

Some light foxing.

Contemporary half aubergine sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, gilt friezes at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Our copy is enhanced with a photographic portrait of Victor Hugo (Souvenir du 16 septembre 1862) which he has countersigned in ink, serving as frontispiece; as well as an autograph inscription signed by Victor Hugo added on a blue paper leaf: "A mon vaillant et cher compagnon d'épreuve C. Berru",

Camille Berru (1817-1878), French journalist, was editor at l'Indépendance belge, a Brussels daily newspaper directed since 1856 by the...

First edition.
Contemporary half red shagreen over marbled paper boards, (a few discreet repairs), spine in six compartments, date to foot, marbled paper-lined endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, top edge red.
A very handsome autograph inscription signed by Victor Hugo to Alphonse Daudet.
Mrs. Daudet's collection stamp to first endpaper.

Victor Hugo represented for Alphonse Daudet, as for the other writers of his generation, the incontestable master of the Pantheon of the arts. His benevolent attention runs through Daudet's work, often listed side by side with Rousseau, Byron, Sand and Delacroix.
If during Daudet's childhood and youth, Hugo, an...

Autograph letter most probably unpublished signed addressed by Juliette Drouet to her lover Victor Hugo, four pages written in black ink on a bifolium. 
Transverse folds inherent to mailing, fold joining the two leaves reinforced with a fine strip of pasted paper barely perceptible.
Absent from the very complete online edition of Juliette Drouet's letters to Hugo by the Centre d'Études et de Recherche Éditer/Interpréter (University of Rouen-Normandy).
Very beautiful declaration of love and admiration by Juliette Drouet, the day after Hugo's plea defending his son. Charles Hugo had been brought before the assizes, and condemned despite his father's...

The first Paris edition, published simultaneously with the Brussels edition.

Most of the volumes bear a statement of fourth, seventh, or eighth edition.

Some foxing to several volumes.

Contemporary half tawny speckled sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, red sheep lettering-pieces lettered "Oeuvres de V. Hugo", sky-blue sheep title and volume labels, volume label lacking from the fifth volume, three others partially lifting, marbled paper-covered boards, decorative endpapers and pastedowns.

First edition.

Contemporary half brown shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands framed by blind fillets, gilt floral tools at head and tail, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplates mounted at the head of the pastedowns, sprinkled edges.

A few minor spots of foxing, with press cuttings loosely inserted and leaving offsetting to the front endpapers of the first volume.

Signed autograph presentation inscription by Jules Claye, the printer of this work, to Ferdinand Taillefer on the front of the first volume: "... souvenir typographique à mon ancien et excellent collaborateur..."

First edition, issued without any edition statement.
Contemporary half mottled fawn sheep bindings, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, red sheep lettering pieces bearing the author's name "Works of V. Hugo", sky-blue sheep title and volume labels, marbled paper-covered boards, decorative endpapers and pastedowns.
Some occasional foxing, small holes at the head of the half-title leaf of the first volume.
Widely regarded as Hugo's masterpiece in the realm of fiction, a dark and baroque work in which his poetic style, built upon antitheses and oxymora, is carried to its furthest limits, anticipating qualities later embraced by the Surrealists.

First edition, without the mention “oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo” (see Clouzot).

Contemporary red polished half calf bindings, spines slightly mellowed and decorated with four raised bands framed by gilt garland tools and gilt quintuple rules, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

Very slight rubbing to the spines, a pleasing copy, lacking the preliminary preface leaf, attractively bound in a contemporary Romantic-style binding.

First edition.

Half morocco binding, spine with five raised bands tooled in black with gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.

Some minor foxing.

Presentation copy signed by Victor Hugo to René Heymann.

Victor Hugo most likely came to know René Heymann (1866-1944) through his beloved grandson, the future painter Georges Victor-Hugo. In the immediate aftermath of the great poet's death, two years after the publication of this penultimate series of La Légende des siècles, Heymann would receive from Georges a heartbreaking letter: "Do not come today. If you only knew...

First edition, limited to 1,100 copies, divided into four fictitious editions within the same year, in order to create the illusion of commercial success. These were subsequently reissued with a new title-page bearing an edition statement and the author’s name, together with a volume designation on the half-titles (cf. Clouzot). Our copy carries the designation “third edition.” Contemporary bookplate traces on the upper pastedowns. Expert restorations to headcaps and joints, with a tiny loss at the foot of the lower joint of vol. I. A clean copy, entirely free of foxing.

Contemporary half chocolate calf bindings...

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo to his friend H. de Cambier, 20 lines written in black ink on a bifolium, autograph address on the verso of the final leaf.
Splendid and likely unpublished letter from Victor Hugo inviting his correspondent to the famed Romantic 'Cénacle' gatherings at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, a veritable literary institution in the 1830's.

"This Saturday the 6th,
I noticed the other evening, Sir, that you expressed, with some regret, not having a ball to attend on Sunday (tomorrow).
Now, I have managed to arrange my guard duty so as to be free tomorrow from nine o'clock to midnight (alas, I could not obtain...

Actes et paroles - Avant l'exil, 1841-1851 [Words and Deeds - Before the Exile, 1841-1851]
Michel Lévy frères, Paris 1875, 19,5x25cm, bound.
First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on chine, most limited deluxe edition of this important collection of speeches, public declarations, and political texts intended for French parliament (Chamber of Peers, Constituent Assembly and Legislative Assembly), all written - as stated in the title - prior to his exile. These important texts address freedom of the press, theater and education, as well as the abolition of the death penalty.
Half red shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated in gilt lengthwise, marbled paper...

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo to Léon Richer, two pages in black ink on a double sheet framed in black. Crosswise folds inherent to envelope inserting. A central tear at the junction of the two sheets. Published in Œuvres complètes de Victor Hugo (Ollendorff, 1905).
Manuscript housed in a blue half morocco chemise and slipcase, marbled paper boards, marbled paper slipcase, signed Boichot.

A magnificent and important letter to Léon Richer, one of the first male feminist activists, considered by Hubertine Auclert as the "father of feminism" and later regarded by Simone de Beauvoir as its "true founder". This deeply humanist text is a compendium of...

First edition of Les Hommes d'aujo­urd'hui (33 issues lacking out of 469). Five volumes bound in light blue half-cloth, smooth spines, blue morocco ti­tle labels decorated with double filets, marbled paper boards (4 volumes). The color title pages have been preserved and bound in. Marginal tears without damage to the text (no. 163; no. 165; no. 184, p. 2). Mar­ginal restorations without damage to text on 8 leaves be­tween nos. 214 and 223. Two leaves of no. 224 backed. Mar­ginal tear with some paper missing (no. 345, p.1). Format of quires in the first vol­ume varies; some are trimmed more than others.
First edition of Les Femmes du jour, very rare complete collection...

Invitation card to the ball celebrating the centennial of Victor Hugo's birth, held at the Salle des Ingénieurs civils, rue Blanche in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, on Saturday, February 22nd, 1902.
A handsome and rare copy despite a very small stain in the upper left corner of the card.
The ball was organized by the committee of the "Société littéraire Victor Hugo" presided by P. Heuzey.

Victor HUGO
Les Misérables
A. Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, Bruxelles 1862, 14,5x22cm, 10 bound volumes.

First edition without statement published concomitantly with the Pagnerre's Paris edition.
Bound in half blue sheepskin, spine in four compartments decorated with double gilt fillets, blue paper plates, marbled paste-down and endpapers, mottled edges, English bindings of the time.
Scattered foxings, title page of the third volume slightly and marginally soiled, paper plates a little rubbed and a few tears on some edges, some joints repaired.

First edition, rare copy with no statement of print.
Full blue morocco binding, spine with raised bands in the Jansenist style, endpapers and pastedowns of combed marbled paper, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, double gilt fillets and gilt tooling to headcaps and board edges, top edge gilt with untrimmed margins preserved, original front wrapper bound in, binding signed by Marius Michel. Monogrammed bookplate mounted on the verso of the first endpaper.
This copy is enriched with four hors-texte plates by Louis Boulanger and Alfred Johannot.
Signed autograph inscription by Victor Hugo on the half-title: « À Monsieur Ch[arles] Mévil son bien...

First edition, of which only 500 copies were issued. With an etched frontispiece portrait of Théophile Gautier by Émile Thérond.

With a substantial prefatory letter by Victor Hugo.

Full red morocco binding, gilt date at the foot of spine, marbled endpapers, Baudelairian ex-libris from Renée Cortot’s collection on the first endpaper, wrappers preserved, top edge gilt. Pale foxing affecting the first and last leaves, beautiful copy perfectly set.

First edition.

Black half morocco binding, spine with four raised bands adorned with gilt dotted fillets and double gilt compartments decorated at the corners, gilt date and the inscription "Ex. de J. Drouet" at the tail, marbled paper boards and endpapers, preserved covers and spine, top edge gilt, binding signed by René Aussourd.
Some minor foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volume.

Precious signed and inscribed copy by Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet, the great love of his life: ‘To you, my lady. Humble homage. V.'

This copy comes from the library of Pierre Duché, who acquired Juliette Drouet's entire...

First edition, very rare. Three states can be distinguished: the first, ours, is distinguished by the title page entitled Oeuvres posthumes, as is the half-title. The second state substitutes a new title page entitled Album d'un pessimiste, with the half-title still indicating Oeuvres posthumes (this is the state known and described by Clouzot). The third state has a new title page dated 1836, again entitled Album d'un pessimiste, with the half-title oeuvres posthumes (this is the most common state); however, the mention of a notice by L'Héritier has disappeared to make way for the mention of a biographical notice (extracted from Michaud's...

First edition.
Bound in red half Russia with corners, spine with four raised bands gilt-ruled and decorated with double gilt panels, date in gilt at foot within a compartment, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, rare wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, uncut, binding signed by Bernasconi.
The catalogue leaf of Victor Hugo’s works is present. A few folding creases to some leaves.

Mounted opposite the definitive version printed on p. 223 is a precious autograph poem by Victor Hugo, entitled “La pauvre...

Partly first edition, gathering the most famous speeches by Victor Hugo, including some of his most memorable addresses delivered at the tribune of the Legislative Assembly—most notably the speech on constitutional revision and the powerful plea he gave at the trial of his son, on 11 June 1851, before the Cour d'assises of the Seine, in defense of the inviolability of human life. Spurious mention of “eighth edition.”
Complete with the rare portrait of the author by Masson printed on China paper, as frontispiece.
Scattered occasional foxing.
Precious inscribed copy signed by Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet : « à mon pauvre...

HUGO Victor
La Pitié suprême [The Supreme Compassion] Calmann Lévy, Paris 1879, 150 x 240 mm (5 15/16 x 9 7/16 ”), half shagreen
First edition.
Elegant half dark blue shagreen over marbled paper boards by René Aussourd, spine in four compartments with gilt dots and double gilt compartments containing horizontal arabesques and gilt stars, date and “ex. de J. Drouet” in gilt at foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved (marginal repairs to covers), top edge gilt, ex-libris of Pierre Duché on one endpaper.
An exceptional presentation copy, inscribed by Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet, the love of his life: “The first copy...

New edition from La collection des classiques français, illustrated with a portrait and a folding map of Spain. Fine edition with classical typography and wide margins.

Full glazed wine-red calf bindings, sky blue title and volume labels, smooth spines richly decorated with cathedral tools and rolls, boards stamped in blind with a large central monastic medallion, a blind border frieze and a second in gilt, boards with slight worm damage, marbled edges.

Magnificent romantic binding by a great binder of the period.

It should be noted that the preface by the Comte de Neufchâteau, academician, is actually by Victor Hugo (then aged 16); the...

Illustrated edition and first issue of the 55 plates printed on heavy paper, including 21 steel engravings and 34 wood-engraved plates, after designs by E. de Beaumont, L. Boulanger, Daubigny, T. Johannot, de Lemud, Meissonnier, and others.

This edition is further enriched with numerous wood engravings in the text and medieval-inspired decorative ornaments.<

Contemporary half burgundy shagreen, spine lightly faded and divided by four raised bands ruled in gilt, compartments richly tooled in gilt with typographic ornaments, gilt initials and decorative tailpiece at foot, one joint skilfully restored at the foot, a few rubs to the spine, burgundy embossed paper boards framed...

Parisian first edition published simultaneously with that of Brussels. Seventh edition statement. Title pages in red and black.
Contemporary half black shagreen binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with blind compartments, series of bold fillets. Some scattered pale foxing on well-white paper. Handsome series agreeably bound.
 

 Second issue of the first illustrated edition of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, distinguished by the small bat vignette on the title-page.

Publisher’s neo-Gothic binding in full brown polychrome cloth, the smooth spine gilt-stamped with an allegory of Notre-Dame de Paris, the boards adorned with an extensive gilt and polychrome design (red, blue, and pink) depicting scenes from Notre-Dame de Paris, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, shaded white flyleaves, all edges gilt, a characteristic Romantic publisher’s cloth binding. Spine evenly faded. Minute split at the head of the upper joint. One leaf detached, two others working loose. Occasional marginal foxing.

Work embellished with...

First edition, now rare according to Clouzot.

Endpapers partially toned, occasional scattered foxing, light dampstains in the upper margins of some leaves.
Contemporary half tan sheep binding, spine skilfully restored, marbled paper boards, first endpaper partly toned, a modest period binding (most copies were simply bound at the time, cf. Clouzot).
Exceptional signed autograph inscription by Victor Hugo: "A mon cher et respectable monsieur de la Rivière. Hommage de profond et reconnaissant attachement. Victor."
 

Belgian printing that followed the 1836 edition described in Vicaire IV, 259-60.

The preliminary note reproduces the introductory text from December 1832 announcing the inclusion of the three chapters missing from the original 1831 edition.

The half-title pages of the three volumes were not preserved by the binder.

A few occasional spots, otherwise a pleasant copy, attractively bound in contemporary Romantic style.

Contemporary Romantic bindings in burgundy long-grain half morocco over marbled boards, smooth spines decorated with gilt Romantic arabesques, spines very slightly faded with minor, unobtrusive rubbing, double gilt fillet frames on the marbled paper...

First edition.

Bradel binding in full brown roan, flat spine gilt-tooled, covers  with Alfred Piat's gilt monogram in the corners, central gilt stamp of his ex-libris, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt. Contemporary binding for Alfred Piat. Rubbing to corners and lower spine-end, some foxing.

Illustrated with two portraits of Hugo as frontispieces.

The finest copy of this biography of Victor Hugo published during his lifetime, bearing the supralibros of the great bibliophile Alfred Piat.

...

Printed proof with autograph inscription and autograph correction "Victor Hugo à l'Espagne" instead of "Victor Hugo et l'Espagne" of an article by Hugo written in Guernsey dated in the print "Hauteville House, 22 October 1868". Published in La Liberté (26 October 1868), with a dedication to Emile de Girardin ("à mon cher et grand ami") which does not yet appear in this preparatory broadside. Folds inherent to the elongated format of the sheet, a small tear on one letter without loss.

Proof enhanced with an autograph correction to the title and an exceptional autograph inscription signed to literary critic and later political polemicist...

New illustrated edition, one of 35 copies printed on chamois vellum, deluxe issue following 25 copies on China paper.

Contemporary Bradel bindings in half Bordeaux morocco with marbled paper boards, smooth spines, corners in morocco, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers bound in. Binding signed by Carayon.

This 1882 edition is a reissue of the 1844 edition illustrated by Charles François Daubigny, Valentin Foulquier, Thoedor Josef Hoffbauer, Victor Hugo, Tony Johannot, Aimé de Lemud, Ernest Meissonier, Célestin Nanteuil, Camille Roqueplan, Louis Henri de Rudder and Louis Steinheil...

Complete with the double-page map of Paris inserted between pages...

 Second impression of the first illustrated edition of Victor Hugo's masterpiece.

Some light foxing.

Publisher's full black cloth binding, smooth spine decorated with a gilt allegory of Notre-Dame de Paris, covers adorned with elaborate gilt designs depicting scenes from Notre-Dame de Paris, yellow paper endpapers and pastedowns, shaded white flyleaves, all edges gilt. A fine example of the publisher's romantic binding.

Illustrated with plates by Charles François Daubigny, Valentin Foulquier, Thoedor Josef Hoffbauer, Tony Johannot, Aimé de Lemud, Ernest Meissonier, Célestin Nanteuil, Camille Roqueplan, Louis Henri de Rudder, and Louis Steinheil...

A splendid copy...

First illustrated edition, first issue, published in a single volume; a more common three-volume edition appeared later the same year, in 1836. With an engraved frontispiece title and 11 full-page steel engravings printed on heavy wove paper by Johannot, Boulanger, Raffet, Rogier & Rouargue, and engraved by Finden, Staines... The typography is spacious, with wide margins, and closely follows the original 1831 edition. The plate "De l'utilité des fenêtres" is present, as it should be—Clouzot notes it is often missing due to its later printing relative to the book’s first issue.
Bound circa 1860 in navy blue half morocco. Spine with raised bands, gilt compartments, and navy morocco...

First edition, one of three or four cop­ies printed on vellum skin, the most limited issue. A few copies printed on japon, 12 on Whatman, 12 on chine, and 350 copies on laid paper. Edited by Philippe Burty, the book features 42 sonnets and as many original etchings.
Contemporary full dark purple morocco binding, slightly recolored spine with five raised bands, gilt title, purple wa­tered-silk pastedowns and endleaves followed by vellum endleaves, inner gilt dentelle, sides and spine-ends framed in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled paper slip­case bordered in purple mo­rocco, binding signed by Au­guste Petit.

Only two oth­er vellum cop­ies recorded: Melot and Delteil...

Autograph manuscript by Juliette Drouet, entitled “General income for the year 1839” “General expenditure for the year 1839” (verso). Two pages in ink on one leaf.
Folds, blind stamp “Bath” in the upper left corner. Two small tears filled in, tiny holes barely visible.

A precious manuscript in the hand of Juliette Drouet, listing her expenses for 1839, a crucial year during which she gave up theater for good and became entirely dependent on her famous lover.
As was her custom at the end of each year, Drouet put her affairs in order, drew up columns and figures, compared her monthly income, and listed her expenses on the reverse: “food and...

First French edition, issued in Paris on 3 April 1862, simultaneously with the Belgian edition, here including the very rare suite of 20 engraved plates by Castelli and Neuville on heavy wove paper. This scarce suite was produced to illustrate the first edition of Les Misérables. It was sold separately, as a supplementary set, and is only very rarely encountered bound together with the volumes.
A particularly interesting copy, as it is composite, and perfectly illustrating the publisher’s commercial strategy, which divided publication into three issues (the first two volumes on 3 April, the following four on 15 May, and the final four on 30 June), as well as the story of the...

First illustrated edition, in the very first issue and complete in a single volume; a three-volume issue, more common and published later in the course of 1836, was subsequently produced. With a frontispiece title and 11 steel-engraved plates hors-texte on heavy wove paper, after Johannot, Boulanger, Raffet, Rogier & Rouargue, engraved by Finden, Staines… The work is attractively printed in an airy type with generous margins, closely following the original edition published in 1831. The plate entitled "De l'utilité des fenêtres" is present; according to Clouzot it is most often lacking, as it was printed later than the initial release of the work.
Contemporary full wine-coloured...

First edition, with no edition statement.
Contemporary half chocolate shagreen bindings, spines with raised bands; marbled paper boards, with laid paper endpapers and pastedowns. Spines evenly lightened. Edges rubbed. Wear to headcaps and bands. A few spots of foxing, notably on the fore-edge. A good copy.
Without doubt, just after The Man Who Laughs, Hugo’s greatest novelistic achievement, depicting on the island of Guernsey the struggle of a solitary man against the ocean.