Notre-Dame de Paris

Reprint of the so-called Keepsake edition published by Renduel in 1836. Furne had bought out the Renduel bookshop and quickly exploited its stock. The illustration contains a portrait of Victor Hugo as frontispiece, 2 title vignettes (these illustrations are new) and 11 steel engravings printed on strong paper by Johannot, Boulanger, Raffet, Rogier & Rouargue engraved by Finden, Staines... It is well printed in airy typography with large margins, and close to the original published in 1831. These two volumes that could be purchased separately formed the head of collection of the new collected edition at Furne, which explains the presence of Victor Hugo's portrait. Half-title before the titles, but which do not display, as for most copies of 1840: Oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo.
Full straight-grained wine-colored morocco binding of the period with the cipher C.F. stamped in blind on the covers. Smooth spine decorated with long rococo tools and fillets. Gilt title and volume number. Covers with a wide border with fillets and rococo tools and the central cipher C. F. Wave fillet on the leading edges, interior frieze. White moiré endpapers. Edges gilt. Pale and yellow foxing scattered on paper that has remained white. The engravings are browned by the framing of the tissue guards, which are themselves browned. Spines have become uniformly blond. Traces of rubbing.
Fine copy. Notre-Dame de Paris, moreover like all the great novels of the period, is very rare in full contemporary binding, especially in straight-grained morocco.