William Shakespeare

First edition.

Some light foxing.

Contemporary half aubergine sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, gilt friezes at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Our copy is enhanced with a photographic portrait of Victor Hugo (Souvenir du 16 septembre 1862) which he has countersigned in ink, serving as frontispiece; as well as an autograph inscription signed by Victor Hugo added on a blue paper leaf: "A mon vaillant et cher compagnon d'épreuve C. Berru",

Camille Berru (1817-1878), French journalist, was editor at l'Indépendance belge, a Brussels daily newspaper directed since 1856 by the Marseillais Léon Bérardi (1817-1897), who later made him his private secretary. He was closely connected to the Hugo family, not only to Victor, but also to his son Charles and to Adèle Foucher. During his stays in Brussels, it was at Berru's home that the exile from Guernsey regularly stayed, with his wife, who died there of a cerebral congestion on August 27, 1868.