Important letter from Victor HUGO on the publication of The Legend of the Centuries.

Victor HUGO (1802.1885)

Autograph letter to Noël parfait, in Brussels.   

Four pages in-8°, very dense.

Autograph address, stamp and postmarks.

Hauteville house. October 9 [1859]

“I admit that I would have just as much liked to be “attacked” only by my ordinary enemies,

and since I need to be “valiantly defended”, keep my friends. »

Important letter from the poet relating to the publication of The Legend of the Centuries disrupted by the discord between its publisher Jules Hetzel and his faithful Paul Meurice who “ The day before it goes on sale, regarding twelve copies to be given away this evening or tomorrow morning, my right arm and my left arm thought it appropriate to quarrel. »

Victor Hugo is also worried about the disappearance of the thirty-three autograph entries that he had written and entrusted to Meurice: “My said autograph pages swirl in the azure of deep oblivion, and that instead of thirty-three friends I am not very far at the moment from having thirty-three enemies. » and laments the now delicate and grotesque promotional situation created by Meurice's sulking and Hetzel's inconsistencies. 

The First Series The Legend of the Centuries appeared on September 28, 1859 in Brussels.

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“O ungrateful person who calls me ungrateful ! the little piece of letter from you that our friend [Jules Hetzel] from Spa sent me would have saddened me if I did not receive almost at the same time your letter of 6 8 ^Bre [6 October], one of the best and most charming that came out of your good and noble heart.

Just know that you defended yourself of what you were not accused of. Far from it, ask for my letters to our friend, and see how the vast ingrate speaks of you in them. – you have never been involved in this grotesque little cloud of Belgian commas. – but let's leave that, and let's not worry any longer about this microscopic detail, the substance of which you will be able to see when you please by reading my letters to our friend.

Let us speak of the matter itself in which you agree to take such a cordial and useful interest. Everything is fine, and that's good. But here is the incident, or the hitch, of today: You may know the beginning of the adventure. The day before it went on sale, with regard to twelve copies to be given away this evening or tomorrow morning, my right arm and my left arm thought it appropriate to quarrel ; at the moment of launch, the captain and the pilot turned their backs, leaving everything there, letting the poor ship get by as best it could. Mr. Hetzel gave his leave to Mr. Paul Meurice, who, an excellent and admirable friend, momentarily lost his sense of reality to the point of believing himself dismissed by me , and left everything in the hands of (the editor)!

Now, here is the serious and the unfortunate: -  I had transmitted and entrusted to Paul Meurice the first thirty-three pages signed by me intended to be placed at the head of thirty-three copies which I asked him to send on my behalf to my friends , some of whom are very important in the press and in letters. Meurice, irritated, handed over the thirty-three pages to our friend, to the "editor", saying to him: Well, since you dismiss me, take charge of the commission. Send this yourself – I'm not involved anymore.

Warned of this by a letter from Meurice, I trembled. I immediately wrote to our friend to ask him if he had made the shipments , if he had made them safe, how he had made them. He answered me from Spa ! He wrote me back a charming letter, but in which, of course, he didn't tell me a word about the thing I asked him. On this, I received a letter from one of the thirty-three friends, a journalist of talent and influence, who wrote to me, without rancor , that not having received my book, he bought it and paid 15 francs . Please, dear Perfect, that I do not name it for you. Besides, in the flood of letters in prose and verse which is reaching me at the moment, not a letter from any of the thirty-two others. What should I conclude from this? that the commission has not been made, that my said autograph pages swirl in the azure of profound oblivion, and that instead of thirty-three friends I am not very far at this moment from having thirty- three enemies. Because, alas, that’s a bit like what the good human biped is made of.

I have never noticed that making a journalist pay 15 francs for a book in which we want to interest him was an excellent way to increase his enthusiasm. – I then understand why the advertisements paid by my publishers (press of 5 8 ^Bre ) are kind enough to tell the public that this book will be attacked a lot . Usually you don't pay to say these things. But this time I understand it. Only I admit that I would just as much have liked to be “attacked” only by my ordinary enemies, and since I need to be “valiantly defended”, to keep my friends .

Already I am told that Janin, having received nothing from me , also takes me for a vast ingrate , and passes from good will to another feeling. – all this, you see, dear Perfect, is not without some seriousness. Now what to do? write to Spa? I no longer hope for a precise response from our friend. write in Paris? Meurice gives me the impression of being outraged, he who wrote to me ten times a week. It's been eleven days since he gave me any sign of life. The wound must be deep for him to suffer to the point of sulking at me, the innocent, and, ultimately, the patient.

I turn to you, because you remember my views, I have Meurice in Paris, I have Perfect in Brussels . missing one of my two providences, I turn to the other. send this letter to Spa? perhaps our friend will answer you? perhaps he will tell you what happened to the 33 pages signed by me? perhaps he will find a way to mend me (for the benefit and benefit of success) with all my more or less broken friends. I do not know a more gracious, nobler, or better man than our friend; but I don't know of any lighter. Will he call me ungrateful again? I place the matter in your excellent hands. At the same time as you, I decide to write to Vacquerie who is in Paris.

Everything you tell me about yourself is admirably said and thought.  In Paris, in Brussels, in exile, in France, you will always have dignity. You will always be you . So take advice from your best possible situation. That is all. – I am waiting for the articles that you announce to me. – I approve of the Belgian reprint in 2000. – When they reprint in France, let me know . I will send an erratum necessary for this reprint. answer me: ex imo .

I come back to our friend, let him not misunderstand the meaning of this letter. I certainly would not want to distress him; I just want to keep him occupied , to fix his attention. God forbid that I cause pain to one of those in this world whom I love best and whom I esteem most, to a valiant and charming man, to a brave heart, to a brave spirit, and to pain in the midst of joy, in the midst of a success that is common to us! sorrow to him who is as much my brother as a writer as my friend as an editor! No ! No ! No ! I finish by kissing him with all my heart. »