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. ALS in French, one page, 4.5 x 7.25, June 23, 1862. Hugo writes from Hauteville House to a Mr. Henry. In full (translated): “My son translated Mr. de Chaselain’s excellent articles for me. I can sense your fraternal cordiality in that publication, and I thank you especially for the humane cause which we serve, both of us, and for which you struggle with so much brilliance. Would you be so kind as to transmit this letter to Mr. de Chaselain. I shake your hand.” In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical fold, and an overall shade of mild toning, a bit heavier along the left edge.
Hugo penned this letter from Hauteville House on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, where he lived in exile for 15 years and wrote Les Misérables. Preceded by a tremendous advertising campaign across Europe, the first part of the wildly popular Les Misérables was published in April of 1862. By June, when this letter was written, Hugo had just finished correcting proofs of the book but had already achieved what was considered impossible: selling a serious literary work to the masses. His characters were already household names when the last two parts of Les Misérables went on sale seven days after this letter was penned. For the time, Hugo was paid a tremendous sum for the work: 300,000 francs for eight years for, as one critic said, “taking pity on the suffering masses.” But for Hugo, Les Misérables was the ultimate expression of the “humane cause” that he refers to in this letter, and the novel’s depiction of social injustice and the misery of the lower classes would eventually have political ramifications across Europe.
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