752 - HUGO, Victor. Letter addressed to "Dear Mr. [Léon] Bérardi" with an unsigned autograph note by Charles Hugo. [Brussels, August 16, [1868], Sunday evening; 1 p., in-8°, fine blue vellum paper, unsigned "Victor Hugo," with an unsigned autograph note by "Charles Hugo" at the bottom of the page (slight creases from mailing). In a clear protective sleeve, sealed along the edges. Fine condition. A moving family letter written on the very day of the birth of Georges Hugo, Victor Hugo’s grandson, and countersigned by his father, Charles. A few months earlier, on April 14, 1868, Charles and Alice Hugo had lost their first child, Georges, who was one year old. On the following August 16, Alice gave birth to a second son, who was given the same first name. Hugo hastens to announce the news: “You, who are such a wonderful father, will share in our joy; you accompanied our sweet little Georges on his departure, and you will be happy to know that he has returned to us. Today at 4 o’clock, Alice brought him back to us. I want you to hear it from me.” This idea of the return of the lost child reappears two days later in a letter to Auguste Vacquerie: “Little Georges has returned. The day before yesterday, the 16th, Alice brought him back to us.” He concludes with a familiar phrase from his correspondence with the Bérardis: “I bow before Madame Bérardi and shake your friendly hand.” At the bottom of the letter, Charles Hugo adds: “The deeply moved father echoes the grandfather’s emotion and cordially shakes your hand.” This pairing of autographs by father and son echoes their photographic portrait given to Mrs. Bérardi (see no. 751). Ref. Victor Hugo, Brussels and Belgium [exh. cat.], Brussels, Crédit Communal, 1985, no. 153. - Victor Hugo to Auguste Vacquerie, Brussels, August 18, 1868, BnF, NAF 24801, ff. 522–523.