Victor HUGO

First edition on current paper.
Binding in half chagrin wine-lees, back slightly thinned with five nerves adorned with gilded florets, marbled paper boards discolored in feet, contreplats and guards of paper in the vat, preserved covers.
Autograph signed by Victor Hugo to Mr. Destrem.

Letter autograph signed and initialed by Victor Hugo addressed to Edouard Plouvier. Address of the addressee, postal stamp dated April 24, 1844 and wax seal on the fourth page of the double page. Nine lines written in ink with a slender and slender handwriting on a double sheet bearing the cold stamp of the city of Bath.
A small yellow spot under the signature, without infringing the text.
Friendly letter from Victor Hugo to his "rare friend" Edouard Plouvier in which he invites him to dinner:
"Will you my rare friend give us the pleasure and the honor of coming to supper the evening tomorrow Thursday, with us. This is perhaps the only way for us to see you. I press your hands. Victor Hugo. VH »
Edouard Plouvier (1821-1876) was a prolific writer, creator of many soap operas, news, articles in the press.

First edition, constituting the volume VII of complete works.
Binding in half navy blue morocco with corners, back with five nerves slightly cleared with small traces of friction, date and place gilded tail, marbled paper plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, preserved covers, bookplate sticky on a contreplats, binding signed by Allo.
Handwritten note of Jules Claretie on a guard: April 27, 1900. Odeon. Resumption of Charlotte Corday. "
Some small foxing.

HUGO Victor
John Brown E. Dentu & Dusacq, Paris 1861, 155 x 235 mm
(6 1/8 x 9 1/4 ”), original wrappers
The very rare first edition.
This copy retains its original photograph of Victor Hugo’s famous drawing of the hanging of John Brown and the facsimile of his manuscript text authorizing the reproduction of this drawing.
A militant for, and martyr of, the abolitionist cause who incited people to armed insurrection, John Brown was arrested in 1859 and hanged on 2 December in Charlestown, Virginia. His execution was one of the causes of the American Civil War.
From exile in Guernsey, Hugo tried to obtain a pardon, but failed. He wrote to President Lincoln: “America must know and be aware that there is something even more frightening than Cain killing Abel, which is Washington killing Spartacus.” This request on the part of Hugo, which seems almost a premonition of the Civil War, won him numerous enemies in the United States.

first edition.
Bradel binding in full marbled paper, smooth back, piece of title of morocco Havana, golden head, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.
Autographed autograph dedication of the author from Victor Hugo to Léon Bienvenu.
Some foxinges affecting mainly the first and last sheets.

first edition sold for the benefit of the Alsatian-Lorraine, mention of second edition.
Bradel binding in full marbled paper, smooth back, black morocco title piece, blankets with preserved stings, golden head, signed binding by Thomas Boichot.
Autographed autograph dedication of the author from Victor Hugo to Léon Bienvenu.
Some foxinges affecting mainly the first and last sheets.
Provenance: from the library of Léon Bienvenu with the printed stamp of his library and numbered with his hand on the title page.

New edition with an original preamble.
Binding half brown shagreen, back with four nerves set with black nets adorned with black boxes decorated in their centers of golden florets, discrete restorations on the joints, brown cardboard plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, Contemporary binding.
Handwritten ex-libris with pen next to the fake title page.
Precious autograph signed by Victor Hugo Jules Janin.
The relationship between Jules Janin - one of the most influential literary critics of the time, particularly in the Journal des Débats - and Victor Hugo were, in their early days, conflictual. For a long time he never ceased to criticize Victor Hugo in his literary criticism, particularly in 1827, when the "prince of critics" made fun of the Last Day of a Condemned Man and published a parody entitled The Dead Ass or Woman guillotined . At the exit of Marion Delorme , he even went so far as to say that the playwright "does not understand the expression of passions".
However, at the turn of the 1850s, during the exile of Hugo, Janin showed solidarity with the outlaw and the two literary leaders began the exchange of correspondence.
The autograph dedication of the author on this copy of the new edition of Odes and ballads is a testimony of the reconciliation between these two celebrities of French letters.
A fine copy of the book, enriched by a rare autograph dedication by Victor Hugo to one of the tenors of literary criticism.

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only grand papier (deluxe) copies.
Paper binding, covers preserved, with marginal repairs, pastiche binding signed by T. Boichot.
A nice copy.

First edition, one of 150 numbered copies on Hollande, the only large paper copies after 25 Chine.
Spine and covers very slightly and marginally sunned, not serious, otherwise a very good copy.

First complete edition, in five volumes, of the "La légende des siècles".
Uniform half red Russia Bradel binding over marbled paper boards, gilt date to foot of spine, some head- and tail- pieces slightly rubbed, a few tears to edge of cover of the second volume of the second series.
A little light spotting.
A rare set in a uniform binding, whose publication stretched over 24 years and is difficult to find complete in five volumes.

The collected edition for the first 16 volumes and first editions for Les Contemplations and La Légende des Siècles.
Contemporary uniform half dark blue polished calf by Simier, relieur du Roi, spines in compartments with blindstamped decoration, fillets, compartments and gilt motifs.
A few headpieces and joints delicate, foxing, principally to some plates.
This set is illustrated – as well as the 34 vignettes of the Furne edition engraved on steel after drawings by Raffet, Johannot, Colin and Louis Boulanger – with 48 further illustrations, including an engraving by Devéria of the Odes and Ballads, an engraved title for the Autumn Leaves (1831), the lithographic frontispiece by Charlet for Hernani, that of the King Entertains Himself from the 1832 Renduel edition by Tony Johannot, and the original frontispieces for Lucrezia Borgia (1833) and Queen Mary of England by Célestin Nanteuil, as well as the 21 plates of the Perrotin de Notre Dame de Paris edition (1844), and so on.
A rare set, partly first editions, rich with engravings important to Hugo's work and remarkably bound by Simier.

Complete Edition.
Binders half red shagreen with corners, back with five nerves set with gold threads adorned with triple gilded boxes decorated in angles of black romantic arabesques, dates and golden friezes tails, marbled paper plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, three blankets and spine preserved (four courses with small marginal gaps), an upper corner of the third volume blunt, golden head.
Our copy is enriched with an autograph note signed by Victor Hugo Mery, brother of novelist Joseph Mery: "Dear Mery, thank your brother I will write it after reading it, but before I speak to the minister as I tell you.. Luther to Melanchthon: frater tuus frater meus, you Victor Hugo Friday 29. "..
The autograph ticket is mounted on tab and placed at the head of the third volume and accompanied by a bookseller description tag mounted on the ticket foot tab.
Pleasant copy established in uniform binding.

First edition, one of 20 copies on China paper, tirage de tête.
A small lack at head of upper cover, wich retains also traces of marginal folding to head.

First edition, one of 50 copies on Hollande, the only large paper copies after 20 Chine.
A good copy.