VICTOR HUGO.

Lot 39
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Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 6 500EUR
VICTOR HUGO.
La Légende des siècles. Paris, Michel Lévy frères, Hetzel et Cie [then: Calmann Lévy], 1859-1883. 5 volumes in-8: blue half-maroquin with corners, ribbed spines decorated with cold filets, untrimmed, gilt heads, covers and spines preserved (Canape, for the first two; Devauchelle, for the last three). First edition: complete collection of the five volumes published over a quarter of a century. Copies on large paper. The first two volumes are on Hollande laid paper, "of great rarity" (Carteret). The last three volumes are on China paper: one of the 20 (nº 18) for volumes III and IV, one of the 15 (nº 11) for the last volume. Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo "to my dear wife" on the false-title of the first volume. The letter has been washed, but it remains visible under blue light. The three lines that follow it, signed "V", remain to be deciphered. An autograph draft by Victor Hugo (2 pages in-8 on 1 leaf) has been mounted at the head of the book. It contains about thirty first draft verses, very different from the printed version, of the poem Au lion d'Androclès (volume I, pp. 51-55). Very fine copies; the first two were bound by Canape, the last three by Alain Devauchelle. The first two volumes belonged to Fernand Vandérem, with ex-libris (cat. 1921, no. 170) and then to André Lefèvre (cat. II, 1965, no. 366), who added the autograph piece at the head. They are cited by Carteret (Le Trésor du bibliophile I, p. 420). The three volumes that complete the series, printed on China paper and bound in imitation by Devauchelle, were added later.
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