Books

First edition, first printing, first issue, of Hugo's gothic masterpiece, in a contemporary binding. "This first edition... is the rarest of all the works of Victor Hugo; it has had a resounding impact worldwide, and is one of the most difficult titles of the Romantic period to obtain" (Carteret). Copies of this issue preserved in contemporary bindings are exceedingly scarce. Published on 16 March 1831 in an edition of 1,100 copies, the first printing was issued in four separate groups of 275 each, with the subsequent three issues being fictitiously labeled as the second, third, and fourth editions on their respective title pages. "The success of this darkly moving novel was immediate, establishing Hugo as the premier historical novelist of his time. Lamartine called him 'the Shakespeare of prose fiction'" (The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French). Two volumes, octavo (200 x 120 mm). Contemporary tree sheep, spines gilt with red morocco lettering- and numbering-pieces. Housed in marbled slipcase. With half-titles. Wood-engraved title vignettes by Tony Johannot. Provenance: Juste Daniel Olivier, 1807-1876, Swiss poet (calligraphic gift inscription signed "Olivier" with red wax seal on front flyleaf, dated 19 April 1832, recipient illegible). Joints and extremities discreetly restored, joints rubbed at head, some pale foxing, a very good copy. Clouzot 86-87: "Les exemplaires de la premiere tranche, sans mention d'édition et sans nom d'auteur sont extrêmement rares"; Carteret Romantique I, 400; Lhermitte 317; Ray French Illustrated Book 180; Vicaire IV, 256.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1831. The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI and follows the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, who falls in love with the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda.