Victor HUGO launches the fire of revolt against Napoleon III. 1852.

Victor HUGO (1802.1885)

Autograph letter signed at Noël parfait, at Alexandre Dumas, in Brussels.   

Three pages in-8° on fine paper. Missing central fold without affecting the text.

Autograph address and postmarks.

Jersey. August 29, 1852.

« It is in fact a fire that I would like to light, a fire of all hatred, a fire of all anger, a fire of all regrets, a fire of all the generous feelings that are smoldering at this time in the pile of ashes that is the France. »

Napoleon the Little invades Paris. From Jersey, his land of Anglo-Norman exile, Victor Hugo was delighted to see his pamphlet against Napoleon III reach homes in the capital. The great man intends to blow the wind of revolt and freedom.

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“What a good letter, dear colleague! Barthélémy's words ^* charmed us. It is in fact a fire that I would like to light, a fire of all hatred, a fire of all anger, a fire of all regrets, a fire of all the generous feelings that are smoldering at this time in the pile of ashes that is the France. Alas! When will the spark fly!

I have received some pretty good news from Paris. Haynau [Austrian general Julius Jacob Von Haynau] is in Paris, and my page on him preceded him there. We made a lot of copies. The Faubourg St Antoine is a little upset, I am told. They even tell me they are very upset . But I translate this a lot into a little. Let's be modest.

Our dear Dumas is in Turin. People write to me from Paris that they are tearing up their serials about me. I'm hungry to read them, and my whole group has the same thirst. You will be very kind, dear Perfect, to send me the volume or volumes that I do not have in the bundle where Tarride will send me my copies of Nap. the little . Give them to him for this.

What are you becoming? What remains of the good diners on Boulevard Waterloo? where are all the excellent friends, Courtier, [Armand] Bouquié, [Jules] Hetzel, [Gaspard de] Cherville? Shake their hands.

Write to me often, and at length. We read your letters as a family. My wife can't say enough about yours. Loving one another in proscription counts double.

Offer Madame Perfect and Mademoiselle Dumas [Marie Dumas, daughter of Alexandre] all my respects and all our memories. Put Charles and me at their feet. And then, may these ladies allow us to get up to kiss you. Tuus. Victor H.”

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Two editions of Napoléon le Petit were published almost simultaneously in Brussels and London, at dawn in August 1852. The first (in small octavo format) intended for the Belgian and foreign market; the second (in 32 format) smaller, intended to be smuggled into France despite the ardent surveillance of the Napoleonic authorities.

The work would only be published in France upon the great man's return from exile, almost twenty years later, by Hetzel et Cie ^, on the symbolic date of December 2, 1870.

^* Barthélémy Terrier, doctor and staunch republican, was proscribed in England for the duration of the Second Empire.