Juliette DROUET and the book by her lover's wife, Adèle Foucher-Hugo.

Juliette DROUET

Autograph letter signed "J." to his nephew Louis Koch.

Three pages in-8°.

Autographed address with stamp and postmarks

Brussels, September 15, 1866

« "All happiness must be bought; that's the harsh divine law applied to humanity..."

Following the birth of her nephew, Juliette Drouet philosophizes about the divine laws of happiness and then promises him to take care of the German translation of the book by her lover's wife, Adèle Foucher-Hugo.

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“ All happiness must be bought; that is the harsh divine law applied to humanity. That is why your poor little wife pays with cruel suffering the price of a woman’s sweetest joy: motherhood. It seems that the balance in the moral order of things requires these counterweights of good and evil, without worrying about those on either side. I hope that your dear wife’s courage has triumphed over all the obstacles of this first breastfeeding and that your dear little girl is no longer suffering the Tantalus-like torment of the breast of abundance.”

I would have liked to send you a satisfactory reply from Mr. Lacroix, but I haven't seen him since. This is because he had a minor bout of cholera, and I myself have been suffering greatly from acute rheumatism in my left arm […]

As soon as I can go out and receive visitors, I will look into getting to the bottom of your matter […] regarding the translation of Madame Victor Hugo's book into German, in the event, of course, that this book, Victor Hugo as told by a Witness of his life, has not yet been translated […] I don't expect to be back in Guernsey for another two weeks, so you can still write to me here at poste restante .

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Victor Hugo as told by a witness of his life was published anonymously in 1863 by Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.