Victor Hugo

En marge figurent quelques notes, et cet alexandrin : « Comme il est l’invisible, il est l’éblouissant »....

"Pro jure contra legem" was a motto that Hugo had adopted as a protest against oppression, making this an exceptionally desirable inscription. While in exile, Hugo published some of his best work, including  Les Misérables, and three widely praised collections of poetry (Les Châtiments, 1853;  Les Contemplations, 1856; and  La Légende des siècles, 1859)..

Your soul sings in you. I shake your hand, poet". - By 1859 Hugo had adopted a new lifestyle, prompted by ill health, in which he spent the summers away from his island home on Guernsey. Although he avoided France, he would have been able to return home and end his now voluntary exile. - With integral address leaf attached; browning with some water staining..

You will feel respectable among all the despicable people. That is an austere kind of joy but it is indeed a joy. Thank you for all the details you gave me. I congratulate and envy Dumas, who was able to help you and ensure that you will have enough to live on in Paris. That, plus all the intelligence, style, grace, talent and virtue that you have! I assure you that you are going to do very well. I am sorry for H.M. the world's biggest scoundrel [H.M. stands for His Majesty, most likely Louis-Napoleon], but there is going to be one successful honest man in Paris. I already know seven or eight of them, maybe nine, and that will make ten with you. Our friend must be in Brussels at the moment. Tell him that I am going to answer his letter and ask him to send me, in the meantime, the issue of l'lndependance (by mail, since it costs two sous there and six francs here) in which my note on George Sand was printed. Also, I would like to have his address in Brussels […]". In a postscript, Hugo as added, "Would you be so kind as to have the first of the two letters I am enclosing handed over to Bance, whose address I do not know, and mail the second one in Brussels? Sorry and many thanks". - In February 1860, Hugo was still living in exile on Guernsey, still writing about the darkness that prevails in France and the world's greatest scoundrel. It was an exile that had begun in December 1851 when a coup d'etat took place in France, which eventually resulted in the Second Empire under Napoleon III, and it did not end until the return of liberty and the reconstitution of the republic on 4 September 1870. However, his exile had recently become a voluntary gesture and an act of pride, a time to stand against Louis Napoleon. On 15 August 1859 (the birth of Napoleon I), Napoleon III offered an amnesty to exiles, which was accepted by some, but not Hugo. In a poem, "Ultima verba", he marked his decision, stating "No one will suppose that I personally can take any notice of the thing called an amnesty. In the present condition of France, protest - absolute, inflexible, eternal protest - that is my duty. True to the engagements I have made with my conscience, I shall share the exile of freedom to the end. When freedom returns, I shall return". The truth of the matter was that Hugo could not return during the reign of Napoleon III without inflicting a deep wound on his pride, and he could not resign himself to that. He was also well aware of the status and commercial value of banishment, even though the banishment was now self-imposed. The personal defiance of Napoleon III, the deliberate choice of martyrdom, gave Hugo a new heroic dimension. - With integral address leaf..

Meyer had acquired this outstanding document from the collection of Alfred Morrison (cf. Catalogue of the Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents Formed Between 1865 and 1882 by Alfred Morrison, 1883, p. 100). - 2) Almost equally striking is the original, highly expressive pen-and-ink drawing by Victor Hugo, showing the dark shape of a portly figure holding a candle (an illustration of Act III, Scene 1 of his 1843 play "Les Burgraves"), captioned by the artist in his own hand: "Mm. Mélingue criant: Caïn! de la Coulisse". In the original production, the actress Rosaline Mélingue had played the role of Guanhumara, providing the off-stage voice for the eerie scene. - 3) Also included is a letter by J.-F. Mocquard, chief-of-staff to Napoleon III, addressed to Auguste Romieu, the directeur des beaux-arts, concerning matters of theatrical censorship (including Hugo's play "Lucrèce Borgia"). 4) The associations are reinforced in an expressive charcoal drawing showing Victor Hugo reading to his brother Abel the first act of "Lucrèce Borgia", inscribed in pencil to the collector by the artist L. E. Fournier: "A M. Arthur Meyer très cordialement". 5) Finally, Meyer was able to include a fragment of Gaetano Donizetti's original manuscript of his 1833 opera "Lucrezia Borgia", which he had based on Hugo's play. 6) At the very end are two brief notes by Victor Hugo in which the author instructs his publisher Renduel to issue to the bearer copies of his works, including "Lucrèce Borgia". - Provenance: bookplates of Arthur Meyer and Jean Inglessi, as well as an additional monogrammed bookplate. Last in the collection of Pierre Bergé (1930-2017)..

If anyone needs to thank somebody, Hugo writes, it is he himself "for the pleasure that your noble sentiments afforded me". Although impeded by "numerous occupations and an eye complaint that torments me", Hugo expresses his hope to meet Magalon soon. - The letter was written in reaction to a note that Magalon had added to his 1823 publication "Souvenirs Poétiques de Deux Prisonniers", thanking Victor Hugo, Chateaubriand, and others for their support. Magalon had been imprisoned in Poissy under harsh conditions and fell ill before being transferred to Paris, where he completed his 13-month sentence. In the note, Magalon apologizes for unfavourable criticism of Hugo's first major publication "Odes et poésies nouvelles" (1822) that he had written for "L'Album" before his imprisonment: "On the occasion of my transfer to Poissy M. Hugo took vengeance in a way worthy of his noble character, be it by petitioning ministers for me, or by making me the object of urgent recommendations that eased the horror of my situation" (Magalon, pp. 107f.). Despite his early fame founded by the "Odes et poésies nouvelles", which earned him a royal pension, Victor Hugo's influence at the time was largely due to his father, the highly decorated General Joseph-Léopold Hugo. Although Victor Hugo was a committed royalist in his early years, the earnest support for the republican Magalon illustrates his integrity and magnanimity in his lifelong fight for justice that forced him into exile 1851. - Some insignificant foxing and minor tears. Modern mounting on stiff paper..

S'il vous était possible d'utiliser [?] Mme Vendrezanne, vous ferez une bonne oeuvre et peut-être, je le crois, une bonne affaire [...]". - Apart from Alexandre Dumas, who owned the "Théâtre Historique", also the director of the "Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique", where the "Musketeers" premiered in 1845, could be considered as a possible recipient. - Slight marginal flaws, one touching the first letter of the signature..

Because of this "force majeure", Hugo asks Pirson to dispense him "temporarily from the deposit of the certificate", as the bank's governor Eugène Prévinaire had done for him in a comparable situation. - Victor Hugo first invested in the Belgian National Bank during his exile in Brussels in 1851, soon after the creation of the institute in 1850. The large purchase finalized in 1873 made Hugo the second largest individual shareholder with 600 shares. - François-Victor Hugo died on 26 December 1873, aged 45. Victor Hugo survived all but one of his five children. - With recipient's note in ink. Traces of folds. Minimal browning and tears to the folds..

Cette inexactitude constitue une nuance bien légère à la vérité ; mais je désirerais que Monsieur Ducancel pût et voulût bien la faire disparaître. Je tremble de promettre plus que je ne tiendrais [...]". - Written in 1821, Victor Hugo's ode "Quiberon" commemorates the royalist victims of the 1795 Battle of Quiberon, which ended a brief counter-revolutionary invasion by French royalists and the British Navy. The poem was published as part of the collection "Odes et Ballades" in 1828. A passionate royalist in the first decades of his life, Hugo's political convictions shifted towards republicanism in the 1840s. - With a tear from breaking the seal. Some browning..

When we meet again, I shall inscribe your name and mine to the first page. This is only for the time being. I have not even sent any of these provisional frontispieces to Victor and Alice. I prefer inscribing the actual copy when I see them. Will you be so kind to tell them, because I wrote to them yesterday, and I forgot this detail. Alice wrote me that they were coming soon. I think the change of air will do my Victor good. Oh, how kind you would be to bring them to me! What a sweet spring and summer we'd have! - Think about it, dear charming doctor, I send you all the effusions of my old heart. You know how much we love you here". - In a short postscript, Hugo asks about the mutual friend and physician to his wife Adèle Alexandre Axenfeld (1825-76) and expresses his hopes that the health of François-Victor was improving: "Comment va Axenfeld. Je sais que Victor va de mieux en mieux". - Tragically, François-Victor Hugo would die of pulmonary tuberculosis at the end of the year on 26 December 1873, aged 45..