Unsigned autograph letter in French, one page, 4 x 5.25, no date, but Paris circa 1872. A carefully penned letter written at two in the morning, to a female friend, “Alas, Madame, I will not see you this morning. My son has just been affected by a fever that has gone to his brain and I spend every moment next to his bed. Please excuse me and pray for me. Soon, I hope, I will have the honour and the happiness of presenting you my hommages.” A professionally repaired tear to the upper right quadrant, otherwise fine condition. Hugo’s last surviving son, François-Victor, fell ill in 1872 and lingered for over a year to die in December 1873. Although apparently written in a formal style, it is very possible that this letter is addressed to his longtime lover Juliette Drouet, whom Hugo continued to address formally during their intense and intimate correspondence of over forty years (which would explain the lack of a signature). RR Auction COA.
