La libération du territoire

First edition, mention of second edition.
Our copy is presented in a case and shirt with a green canvas back and marbled paper boards.
We enclose the cover of the catalog of the sale of the library of George and Maurice Sand in 1890 on which was pasted the descriptive sheet of our copy with its hammer price in pencil.
Exceptional autograph shipment signed by Victor Hugo to Georges Sand.
"But what did they think of each other, these two outstanding personalities of literary life in the 19th century? Because they never met these two, yet they were perfectly contemporary: Victor Hugo (1802-1885), George Sand (1804-1876).
Certainly there were the ups and downs of life: George Sand did not really publish until 1832, at a time when Victor Hugo was already aware of his glory; and then there was the exile of Victor Hugo from 1851 to 1870, but that does not explain everything!
At the beginning, they are not really part of the same coterie: Victor Hugo, Pair of France, support of Louis-Philippe on one side, George Sand socialist on the other. They do not really appreciate each other even if George Sand has a certain annoyed admiration for Victor Hugo, called grandiloquent: "the most talkative of sublime poets" while Hugo him, finds bluntly that "Sand does not know how to write"!
Then, with the coup d'etat of Napoleon III, Victor Hugo evolves politically; he quickly overflows George Sand on his left, goes into exile while George Sand accommodates internal exile. Their relationship heats up only very, very weakly: "George Sand has talent, that's all". In exile Victor Hugo publishes "Les Châtiments", a very critical work which is obviously prohibited in France. George Sand would like Victor Hugo to be less intransigent in his writings so as to be published.
The publication of "Contemplations" in 1856, much less controversial, is welcomed by George Sand and marks a new phase in their relations.
In fact, their first letter contact does not concern literary life. Nini the little girl of George Sand dies in 1855, Victor Hugo still very marked by the death of his daughter Léopoldine sympathizes; the loss of a loved one brings them together.
Here they are friends, George Sand becomes a "genius", she will often be invited to Guernsey ... without further action, their relationship will never be familiar.
Victor Hugo supports him during the publication of the Beaux Messieurs de Bois Doré (1858), but George Sand gets angry when he refuses the amnesty of 1859 while on her side she seeks to soften the situation of the proscribed.
When “Les Misérables” was published (1862) Victor Hugo sought the support of George Sand, but this support was lacking. Victor Hugo is saddened, George Sand will say that he prefers the poetry of Victor Hugo to his prose work.
On the return from exile, with the Commune, here is a new misunderstanding; Victor Hugo argues, George Sand is horrified: legalist and shocked by the violence, she condemns in extremely harsh terms this Paris Commune.
Nevertheless, from there, these two support and defend themselves as soon as one or the other is attacked.
In 1876, it was Victor Hugo who delivered the famous funeral praise of George Sand: "I mourn a dead woman, I salute an immortal ..."
The relationships of George Sand and Victor Hugo have therefore evolved a great deal during their lives. It is undoubtedly a reflection of their personal development, but perhaps their entourage, political ideas or the opinion that the other had of his own work also interfered with literary criticism; even our great personalities are under influence!
"Victor Hugo and George Sand, what if they had met?" »This is a fictional play by Danièle Gasiglia.
But maybe, as Danièle Bahiaoui suggests: “Both of them in the same room, it's one too many! »» (Blog "We in Boischaut Sud" conference by Danielle Bahiaoui, Arnaud Laster and Danielle Gasaglia)
Provenance: Maurice Sand (Venet Ferroud, Paris, February 24-March 3, 1890, lot 418), H.-Bradley Martin (engraved ex-libris), Philippe Zoummeroff. (Piasa sale, Paris, April 2, 2001, lot 112).