Important French writer, artist, and statesman (1802–1885) best known for such canonical novels as Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Much of his literary output was devoted to political and social issues, and in the 1840s he became actively involved in the French government as a legislator and staunch activist on behalf of the Republican cause. In 1851 the controversy surrounding his inflammatory writings denouncing Louis-Napoléon forced him into a two-decade exile, during which his productive creative pace barely slackened. Superb AQS in French, a stanza from his poem “Lux” (from the collection Les Châtiments) on an off-white 7.25 x 4.5 page, signed at the conclusion “Victor Hugo.” In full (translated): “The tyrants will die out like meteors./And, as if it were born from the night two dawns/In the same blue sky,/We will see you leaving this pit where we are,/Mixing your two rays, fraternity of men,/Paternity of God!” Also included is the original ALS of transmittal from Hugo to M. Amédée Gancher, who had evidently requested the item from Hugo. In full (translated): “I send you, Sir, that which you asked for. With thanks for your beautiful and gracious letter and my very cordial wishes....” Les Châtiments, Hugo’s explosive, bitterly satirical commentary on the bloody coup d’état by Louis-Napoleon in 1852, takes a place among the writer’s most scathing and powerful political statements. The furor that greeted the work’s publication was such that Hugo was forced to flee France with his family, remaining in exile (though still productive) in England for nearly 20 years; when he returned to France in 1870, he was hailed as a national hero. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in Hugo’s hand. In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds to both items touching writing (lightly touching signature on AQS), mild scattered soiling, and a trimmed edge to each (close to but not touching writing on letter). R&R COA.
