Les Misérables.

Victor HUGO (1802-1885).

Les Misérables. Bruxelles: Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce, 1862. 10 volumes, 8vo (8 5/8 x 5 5/8in; 218 x 143mm). Half-titles. (Some spotting, generally light, occasional very light old dampstaining). Contemporary morocco-backed marbled paper-covered boards, each volume with binder’s ticket of Duquesne of ‘Gand’ (Ghent), spines gilt in five compartments with semi-raised bands, lettered in the second compartment, numbered in the fourth, the bands highlighted with rules and rolls in gilt and blind, decorative roll at the foot of each volume, marbled endpapers (dusty, some splits and chips, some losses to some spines, rubbing, corners bumped). Provenance: bookseller’s note at the front of vol.I, dated ‘11/24/08’, discounting the price from $35 to $28 and noting that the set was a ‘First Edition’); possibly purchased by Louise Pettibone Smith (1887–1981) whose signed bookmark, copyrighted ‘1906’, was loose in vol.VI. 

Scarce first edition, first printing of this classic work of literature. Michaux describes it as Hugo’s “magnum opus and one of the most influential novels ever written”. The first two volumes were published in Brussels on the 30th or 31st March 1862, several days before the Paris edition, giving it distinction as the first edition; the remaining volumes were published May 15, 1862. 

Victor Hugo's "great novel has been hailed as a masterpiece of popular literature, an epic poem in prose about God, humanity, ...Hugo hoped that Les Miserables would be one of if not the 'principal summits' of his body of works. Despite its length, complexity, and occasionally unbelievable plot and characterization, it remains a masterpiece of popular literature. It anticipates Balzac in its realism, but in its flights of imagination and lyricism, its theme of redemption, and its melding of myth and history, it is uniquely Hugo" (Dolbow, 149, 214). 

The presence of Louise Pettibone Smith's book-mark is far from conclusive evidence that the set belonged to her, but she would be an appropriate owner. She ‘was an American biblical scholar, professor, translator, author and social activist. She was the first woman published in the Journal of Biblical Literature in 1917. She later became chair of the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born and denounced the House Un-American Activities Committee for its "McCarthyism"... In 1962, a testimonial dinner was held in New York in her honor, at which she was called "Lover of truth and Crusader for Justice.”’ (wikipedia).

Contents: I/ [i-vi; 1-]6 – 405[406] ; II/ [1-]8 – 443[444] ; III/ [1-]10 – 402  (25.7 is the final leaf, missing 25.8 [a blank?]) ; IV/ [1-]8 –  366  (23.5 is the final leaf, missing 23.6 [a blank?]) ; V/  [1-]10 – 357[358] i-ii] ; VI/ [1-]8 – 346  (22.3 is the final leaf, missing 22.4 [a blank?]) ; VII/ [1-]10 – 490  (31.3 is the final leaf, missing 31.4 [a blank?]) ; VIII/ [1-]8 – 466[467-468] ;  IX/ [1-]10 – 447[448] ; X/  [1-]8 – 335[336].

Michaux, L'edition originale des "Misérables," 110-116; Mahaffey, 166.