Victor Hugo – Les Misérables – Translated from the French by Lascelles Wraxall – The First Authorised English Translation – 1862
£15,000.00
London Hurst & Blackett 1862
Three volumes, octavo. The first authorised English translation published by Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Marbled endpapers and fore-edges similarly illustrated, with the engraved armorial bookplate to the front pastedown of each volume. Elegantly bound in uniform full calf, covers with double gilt fillet borders, richly gilt-panelled spines with contrasting morocco lettering-pieces. Wear to the labels, hinges and board edges and corners, commensurate to its 160 year life.
The exceptionally scarce first authorised English edition of Victor Hugo’s monumental masterpiece, published in the same year as the French original and widely regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written. An immediate international publishing sensation, Hugo, already Europe’s most celebrated living writer, had spent nearly twenty years bringing the novel to completion, much of it whilst living in political exile following the rise of Napoleon III. Demand upon publication was unprecedented, prompting the rapid appearance of this first authorised English translation by Lascelles Wraxall, produced under copyright agreement with Hugo’s publishers.
An exceptionally handsome set of one of the defining works of nineteenth-century literature. Complete copies of the first authorised English edition are decidedly uncommon, particularly in such an attractive contemporary binding. We can find no similar edition selling recently.
(We don't keep all of our stock in the shop, so send us an email if you're planning a trip to see a particular author or book.)
- Description
Description
London Hurst & Blackett 1862
Three volumes, octavo. The first authorised English translation published by Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Marbled endpapers and fore-edges similarly illustrated, with the engraved armorial bookplate to the front pastedown of each volume. Elegantly bound in uniform full calf, covers with double gilt fillet borders, richly gilt-panelled spines with contrasting morocco lettering-pieces. Wear to the labels, hinges and board edges and corners, commensurate to its 160 year life.
The exceptionally scarce first authorised English edition of Victor Hugo’s monumental masterpiece, published in the same year as the French original and widely regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written. An immediate international publishing sensation, Hugo, already Europe’s most celebrated living writer, had spent nearly twenty years bringing the novel to completion, much of it whilst living in political exile following the rise of Napoleon III. Demand upon publication was unprecedented, prompting the rapid appearance of this first authorised English translation by Lascelles Wraxall, produced under copyright agreement with Hugo’s publishers.
An exceptionally handsome set of one of the defining works of nineteenth-century literature. Complete copies of the first authorised English edition are decidedly uncommon, particularly in such an attractive contemporary binding. We can find no similar edition selling recently.
