Les Misérables

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 light scattered foxing spots.
 

As the first edition of Les Misérables was published in four successive instalments, the release of each new set of volumes necessitated further printings of the earlier ones. The immediate success of the first two volumes—issued on 3 April simultaneously in France, Belgium, Germany, and numerous other countries—was so overwhelming that, as Victor Hugo had feared, Pagnerre's initial print run (6,000 copies according to Hovasse and 7,000 according to L. C. Michel in La Revue anecdotique, 15 April 1862) sold out almost immediately:

« Le 6, on eût battu toutes les librairies de la rive gauche et de la rive droite, pour en trouver un exemplaire ».

Accordingly, 1,000 copies were taken from the 5,000-copy Brussels printing intended for the Belgian and export markets to create a spurious French « second edition », which was in fact the Belgian first edition fitted with a newly printed title-page. By 10 April, however, Pagnerre was compelled to order a further printing, ready by the 17th thanks to the stereotype plates prudently prepared by the printer Claye during the first printing. Only the title-pages were newly printed from movable type, in red and black using antique capitals, « un des joyaux de son matériel typographique ». This new title-page was subsequently used for the later volumes bearing similarly spurious edition statements, which are in reality later printings issued to coincide with the publication of the succeeding volumes, allowing new readers to acquire the complete work.