"j'en profite pour mener ma femme à une petite sauterie en mascarade chez Nodier"

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Splendid and likely unpublished letter from Victor Hugo inviting his correspondent to the famed Romantic 'Cénacle' gatherings at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, a veritable literary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 more than six hours), and I am taking advantage of it to take my wife to a small masquerade party at Nodier's. If you would like to come with us, we would be delighted — and Nodier too. To do so, you would need to be at my home at nine o'clock, the hour I myself will return. — Answer me this morning, and believe in all my friendship. Vr Hugo."

"In the drawing room of the Arsenal library, where he had been head librarian since 1824, Charles Nodier hosted every Sunday evening the entire Romantic literary and artistic elite during the final years of the Restoration and the early years of the July Monarchy. In addition to Hugo — one of the most regular attendees — and later, Musset, Dumas, and Balzac, the salon gathered "representatives of all the book professions — from conception to illustration, publication, and criticism [...] in a friendly and convivial atmosphere" (Marta Sukiennicka).
Hugo invites his correspondent to a masked ball held on one of those celebrated Sundays. Far from being a mere social occasion, the 'Cénacle of the Arsenal' salon was one of the most vibrant centers of the Romantic movement.

Having succeeded in excusing himself from his National Guard duties — he was a sub-lieutenant in 1830 — Hugo had likely arranged for a replacement to take his watch that evening; even the most illustrious of writers were not exempt from such military service. A few years later, Balzac dodged his National Guard shifts and was imprisoned twice, in 1836 and 1839.