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Victor HUGO (1802-1885) - Curious note received by Victor Hugo, 2 p small in-8, it is anonymous, but must have been appended to an identified letter, since Victor Hugo affixed a large "r" for "replied", it concerns Nicolas GRETCH (1787-1867), editor and owner of "l'Abeille du Nord", a widely read St. Petersburg French-language newspaper, spokesman for the tsarist regime, reactionary, propagandist and opposed to liberal ideas, founded in the 1820s, became a daily in the 1830s, highly influential and of course a manipulator of opinion among the Russian petty nobility and bourgeoisie; Gretch was pinned down by the Marquis de Custine in his report on his trip to Russia (1843), and Gretch retaliated by publishing a pamphlet against him; Gretch spent time in Western Europe (Germany, Belgium, France), but was never appreciated by intellectuals, considered a spy in the pay of Russian power: "N. Gretch - editor of L'Abeille du Nord, an organ of the Russian police, a spy known to the public, in one of the last issues of his newspaper - that he defended censorship even in France, and that 20 years ago, he defended it at a dinner at Salvandi's [n.b.: Narcisse-Achille Salvandy, the man who welcomed Hugo to the Académie française]. He adds that Victor Hugo told him that he agreed with him, and that after this conversation he not only got to know him, but maintained a friendly relationship with him. 12 years ago, Gretch was in Paris, the Russians who were there lithographed visiting cards "N. Gretch Premier Mouchard de S.M. l'Empereur Nicolas" and sent them to all Gretch's friends on New Year's Day. Gretch wanted to sue, accusing the Marquis de Custine - who replied in a newspaper "[N.B. : this note can be dated to around 1860 (Gretch's pamphlet against Custine was published in 1845, so his trip to Paris with the calling-card episode may have been in 1848); Victor Hugo is in exile in Guernsey and has secured his reputation not only in literary circles, but above all in liberal ones; he is beginning to be widely read by Russian intellectuals, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are enthusiastic about his novels, but "Notre Dame de Paris" remains banned by the censors - Gretch's article aims not only to orient Russian opinion towards Hugo, but also to destabilize him in Europe by passing him off as a reactionary friend of his].

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Victor HUGO (1802-1885) - Curious note received by Victor Hugo, 2 p small in-8, it is anonymous, but must have been appended to an identified letter, since Victor Hugo affixed a large "r" for "replied", it concerns Nicolas GRETCH (1787-1867), editor and owner of "l'Abeille du Nord", a widely read St. Petersburg French-language newspaper, spokesman for the tsarist regime, reactionary, propagandist and opposed to liberal ideas, founded in the 1820s, became a daily in the 1830s, highly influential and of course a manipulator of opinion among the Russian petty nobility and bourgeoisie; Gretch was pinned down by the Marquis de Custine in his report on his trip to Russia (1843), and Gretch retaliated by publishing a pamphlet against him; Gretch spent time in Western Europe (Germany, Belgium, France), but was never appreciated by intellectuals, considered a spy in the pay of Russian power: "N. Gretch - editor of L'Abeille du Nord, an organ of the Russian police, a spy known to the public, in one of the last issues of his newspaper - that he defended censorship even in France, and that 20 years ago, he defended it at a dinner at Salvandi's [n.b.: Narcisse-Achille Salvandy, the man who welcomed Hugo to the Académie française]. He adds that Victor Hugo told him that he agreed with him, and that after this conversation he not only got to know him, but maintained a friendly relationship with him. 12 years ago, Gretch was in Paris, the Russians who were there lithographed visiting cards "N. Gretch Premier Mouchard de S.M. l'Empereur Nicolas" and sent them to all Gretch's friends on New Year's Day. Gretch wanted to sue, accusing the Marquis de Custine - who replied in a newspaper "[N.B. : this note can be dated to around 1860 (Gretch's pamphlet against Custine was published in 1845, so his trip to Paris with the calling-card episode may have been in 1848); Victor Hugo is in exile in Guernsey and has secured his reputation not only in literary circles, but above all in liberal ones; he is beginning to be widely read by Russian intellectuals, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are enthusiastic about his novels, but "Notre Dame de Paris" remains banned by the censors - Gretch's article aims not only to orient Russian opinion towards Hugo, but also to destabilize him in Europe by passing him off as a reactionary friend of his].

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Starting price  130 EUR

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Victor HUGO (1802-1885) Autograph letter signed February 14 on laid paper on the letterhead of the Senate located in Versailles in 187[...] addressed to Hippolyte Charamaule, 1 folio in-4 "I am writing to you from here, from your home, from the house that is your home, and I want this letter to come to you where it should. The Senates of the Republic explain and justify it by the veterans' bench, and what veteran better than you, what wrestler more tried and tested than Charamaule! To this name I add only this. Victor Hugo" (Freckles and small folds) Enclosed is a card on card stock "Madame Victor Hugo will remain at home on Sunday evenings during the month of April". Condition report available on request: [email protected] PROVENANCE By descent BIOGRAPHY After the events of 1848, Victor Hugo rallied to the Republic and spoke out in favor of reform of the national workshops, freedom of the press and abolition of the death penalty. He was elected to the single National Assembly set up by the 1848 Constitution, which established the Second Republic, as representative of the Seine until the coup d'état of December 2, 1851. Victor Hugo spent eighteen years in exile under the Second Empire, returning to France in 1870. In January 1876, he returned to the Palais du Luxembourg when delegates elected him Senator for the Seine. Until 1879, the Senate sat in Versailles. NOTICE This autograph letter is addressed to Hippolyte Charamaule, a lawyer elected to the Assembly in 1848, who voted in favor of the total abolition of the death penalty and actively fought for freedom of the press alongside Victor Hugo. He is quoted in Victor Hugo, Histoire d'un crime, Tome 1: "Charamaule is a tall man with an energetic figure and a convincing speech; he voted with the left but sat among the right" and "Charamaule showed from the very first moments a courage which, in the four days of the struggle, never wavered for a moment" in reference to the coup d'état of 1851.