Lot n° 155
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3000 - 4000
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HUGO, Victor. *Châtiments*. - Lot 155
HUGO, Victor. *Châtiments*.
One of the six first copies on Chinese paper, with full margins, from the extremely rare clandestine edition on large-format paper, supplemented by the first separate edition of *Nox*. From the Romantic library of Charles Jolly-Bavoillot, in a fine Jansenist binding.
In France [Brussels], n.p. [Henri Samuel], 1853.
In-32 (115 x 70 mm), full cherry morocco, spine with raised bands framed by blind-stamped fillets, author, title, and date in gilt lettering, gilt interior roulette, double gilt fillet on the edges, guilloché headbands, gilt head, untrimmed.
2ff.n.ch. (half-title and title printed in black and red), III and 392 pp.
Minimal scuffing, a few foxing spots mainly in the margins.
Very rare clandestine edition, second printing, reprinted on large-format paper. Its composition is identical to the so-called “Geneva and New York” edition. The title is printed in black and red; the half-title and title do not include a circumflex over “Chatiments.”
Limited to 22 copies; this one is one of the first 6 numbered copies on China paper (No. 2), followed by 16 on Dutch vellum.
Our copy is enhanced by the first separate edition of “Nox,” the opening poem of *Châtiments*, dated November 1852 in Jersey (in-32 booklet, 15 pp). Printed in small numbers to promote the forthcoming clandestine edition, it opens with these words: “This new book by the great republican poet-orator, a worthy counterpart to Napoleon the Little, is divided into seven parts...”
[Vicaire, IV, 312–313].
Bound together with the following:
*Le Christ au Vatican* (1861) – *La Voix de Guernesay* (1867).
London and Geneva, Available at Major Bookstores, 1868, 29 pp.
*Christ in the Vatican*, an anticlerical pamphlet first published anonymously in 1853 and then mistakenly attributed to Hugo in 1861, was in fact written by the magistrate Paul-Frédéric Cabantous (1814–1861). In contrast, *The Voice of Guernsey*, a satirical poem written in three days following the disaster of the Battle of Mentana, is by Victor Hugo, who denounces the military alliance between Napoleon III and the Pope against Garibaldi and supports Italian independence.
From the library of Charles Jolly-Bavoillot (1821–1895), featuring his bookplate engraved by Hector Giacomelli, bearing the motto “Aimer Admirer.” This famous Franco-American bibliophile, whose Romantic collection was auctioned off in Paris in June 1896, was renowned for his meticulous standards. The fine craftsmanship of this Jansenist binding suggests it was produced by the Chambolle-Duru workshop, to which Charles Jolly-Bavoillot entrusted many of his first editions.
An exceptional copy, with full margins, of Victor Hugo’s most famous satirical and political collection, written while he was in exile and in resistance against Napoleon III.
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