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Victor HUGO

L'année terrible

Michel Lévy frères, Paris 1872, 15,5x23cm, broché.

L'Année terrible [The Terrible Year]


Michel Lévy frères | Paris 1872 | 15.5 x 23 cm | original wrappers
First edition printed on ordinary paper.
Small sections missing on the board margins, sometimes filled and restored.
Presentation copy signed by Victor Hugo: «Aux pieds de madame d'Alton-Shée.» «At the feet of Madame d'Alton-Shée.»
Precious presentation copy in its original condition.
Victor Hugo does not skimp on compliments towards women, but the expression «at the feet of My Lady» is reserved for the first «At the feet of Madame», in one single word, a seemingly more sober tribute, is in fact always addressed to women with whom the poet is besotted like, for example, Léonie d'Aunet, for whom he adds the same intimate dedication to her copies.
Yet it is here to a married women, thirty years younger than him, that the writer dedicates this collection of poems about the 1871 war. Her husband, Count Edmond d'Alton-Shée, is also a long-time friend of Victor Hugo, a peer of France like him, and shares the same democratic struggles. They both tried to prevent the 1871 catastrophe, as shown by this letter, dated 2 August 1870, addressed to Victor Hugo: «I am in complete agreement with you. It will be necessary to seize the moment. At a given time, civilization, having revolution as a language, must put a stop to it. I want the Rhine for France, [...] But nothing by Bonaparte! Nothing by this frightful war! We are in agreement.» Yet it is not to this brother in arms and ink that Victor Hugo offers this copy, but to his wife, the young Valentine, whose great beauty was immortalised by another family friend, the painter Paul Chenavard who was also her lover.
In September 1872, at the time of L'Année terrible's publication, the ageing poet's heart gives in to the attractive wife's charms, whose husband, now almost blind, can undoubtedly no longer appreciate her attraction.
The couple pay a visit to Victor Hugo in Guernsey and stay in a hotel «opposite Hauteville-House [...] where [they] have two bedrooms for 20 francs per week.» «They are at my house all day, they have lunch and dinner at mine, and only have to step across the street.» (letter to Judith Mendès, 10 September 1872).
This proximity to the captivating woman inspires Hugo to write a long, nostalgic poem on 5 September, one which he would only publish eleven years later, after the death of Edmond, in oute la Lyre.
We must read between the lines of his poem «A Madame d'A-sh.» to guess the relationship that the poet then had with this muse: «Nobel woman faithful to the defeated, your smile fresh and beautiful, when it shines on me, it reminds me of this dawn on this tomb»
However, the intimate handwritten dedication that he honours on his collection of poems shows a passion that will not reduce with time because, after his return to France, it is with the same enthusiasm that he invites her to visit him: «Have you found my name, at your door, Madame My name came to throw itself at your feet, and for your grace. Be good enough to come to dinner [...] I will be very happy to put myself at your feet» (letter to Valentine D'Alton-Shée, 1 August 1873).
Exceptional handwritten dedication and secret declaration of a poet in love with the beauty of women.

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