Jersey

Salt print from a calotype, mounted on cardboard.
Handwritten annotation by poet Henry Dérieux on verso: "Hugo et Vacquerie, photographie donnée par Larguier avec son livre un dimanche de l'été 1914" (Hugo and Vacquerie, photograph given by Larguier with his book on a Sunday in the summer of 1914).
Portraits of Victor Hugo and Auguste Vacquerie in front of the window of Marine Terrace, the house inhabited by the Hugo family during their exile in Jersey between 1852 and 1855.
The salted paper calotype process, recently introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot, produced images with a matt appearance and naturally warm tones, albeit with little contrast.

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo addressed to the drama writer and Belgian journalist Louis Labasse, "Editor in Chief of The Nation ". 33 lines in black ink on a folded slip. Recipient's address and sender's initials on the fourth page. Some erasures, underlines and corrections. Some folds inherent in the enveloping of the letter.
Unpublished letter, mixing lyricism and politics, in which the exiled Jersey confirms his animosity towards Napoleon the Small.
A voluntary exile in Jersey, Hugo nevertheless continues to distance himself from his political and literary struggle through correspondence with several journalists, including Louis Labasse...

First edition. Illustrated with 22 aquatint engravings on glazed paper, a map of Jersey and a plan of St. Helier. The illustrations are treated like photographs or postcards, which they closely resemble at first glance.
Publisher's green shagreen paper boards. Decorative plate on the upper board with title. One corner slightly bumped. On the edge: Manufactured in Germany. (For the binding only).
A blue library stamp: Bigwood's circulating Library. Jersey. The presence of the train in the engravings between St. Helier and St. Aubin, inaugurated in 1870, suggests an edition close to this date. Charming tourist book of Jersey.

NB: This work is available at the...