Victor Hugo
The History of a Crime
London , Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1878. First edition. Cloth. A scarce four volume set of Vicor Hugo's essay The History of a Crime, the first two volumes of which are the second UK edition, whereas the third and fourth (added as a further, initially unplanned expansion) are UK first editions. The History of a Crime is Hugo's account of Napoleon III's takeover of France and remained unpublished for some twenty-six years after its completion. Initially elected by direct popular vote (the first such election in France's history), Napoleon III was subsequently blocked from running for a second term and instead organised a coup d'etat in 1851 and took the throne the following year, imposing harsh censorship and repression against those who opposed him or he suspected of doing so. Here, Victor Hugo's unique literary style recounts and analyses this turbulent era, as an eyewitness. Each volume contains an ink inscribed bookplate to front free endpaper of the Eclectic Book Society, Oxford, dated 1878-79. In cloth binding with gilt detailing. Externally sound. there are markings to the boards and backstrips, as well as wear to the joints, boards, backstrip and extremities. The joints of volumes one and three have closed tears and the backstrips on these are starting as a result and feature shelfwear. The hinges are also somewhat tender. Internally, the binding is tender but holding and the pages are generally bright and clean throughout, aside from the usual foxing to endpages. Fair . Ill.: None. Fair .
Rooke Books
Professional sellerBook number: SET27-D-2
GBP 125.00 [Appr.: EURO 148.25 US$ 161.22 | JP¥ 24576]
Keywords: Napoleon III European History France Censorship European History None