HUGO Charles (1826-1871). - Lot 84

  2. Result
  3. HUGO Charles (1826-1871). - Lot 84
  4. Lot n° 84 
Lot n° 84
Go to lot
Estimation :
2000 - 2500 EUR
HUGO Charles (1826-1871). - Lot 84
HUGO Charles (1826-1871). autograph manuscript, [ca. 1845]; small notebook in-4 (19 x 15 cm) of 22 pages plus blank ff., original black embossed paper boards with vegetal motifs, black basane spine (cut on the first cover, small cut at the top of the 1st f., a few pages torn off at the beginning of the notebook), half-maroquin midnight folder, case. Curious unpublished document, reporting remarks by Victor Hugo, and a talk about Mme de Staël. Charles Hugo, whose handwriting imitates that of his father, reports in the first part remarks by Victor Hugo. The text (incomplete at the beginning) moves from the end of a story about a stolen watch to an account of a crime committed by Basque brigands, known as "traboucaires", on 21 February 1845: the theft of passengers from a stagecoach, and the kidnapping, confinement, mutilation and murder of one of them. To this account, peppered with comical details, are added several anecdotes of travellers confronted with brigands, collected in the Basque Country (where Hugo had visited in 1843); then the memory of the Brest prison (which Victor Hugo visited in 1834), where Hugo met the man "who single-handedly stopped the Toulouse coach. He had put clothes and hats on the stiles that lined the road. Then he had put other stakes across the road, like rifles making the movement of laying down at gunpoint. [He was sentenced to the galleys for life. I saw him in the penal colony of Brest. He looked intelligent and fine. I approached him and said, "There was spirit in your idea. He replied, "And stupidity too, since that is what keeps me here." The second part, entitled M. de Lacretelle and Mme de Staël, is in a way the record of a conversation between Hugo and the younger LACRETELLE, and their wives about Mme de STAËL, who is said to have charm, buttons, and the impropriety of receiving high-ranking personages during her toilette: "Victor Hugo. It is incredible. Always between two shirts? M. de Lacretelle. Always. She nonchalantly leaned her naked arm on my shoulder. I was speechless. I admit that at that moment I was the stupidest boy in the world. And Lacretelle multiplies memories of Corinne, Benjamin Constant, Soumet, M. de ***, M. de Rocca, Mme Tallien... "Victor Hugo - One cannot imagine such impudence as that of Mme de Staël. One day, the Emperor was at the bath; she wanted to enter in spite of the instructions; she entered by force, exclaiming: "Genius knows no sex! The Emperor received her as she deserved, with severity. I confess that I would feel an inexpressible repugnance for such a woman. I understand perfectly the disdain of M. de Lacretelle. Besides, she had no talent. It is a prejudice that Mme de Staël. She wrote empire works, and she invented heroes in the style of a pendejo...
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue