Victor Hugo et Son Temps [Victor Hugo and His Times]

Mournful / Contemplative Full-Page Border With Statues

This full-page decorative border features trees without leaves, presumably in Winter, and statues that from the context we know to be monuments on tombs. In the foreground is a lilly-pond. [more...]

Vintage border of brambles and flowers

This half-border (bottom of the page and one side) features blackberry vines and flowers; the flowers might be intended to be blackberries but seem too large. [more...]

Tailpiece ornament - Harp with oak leaves and mistletoe

This woodcut was used as decoration to mark the end of a chapter; it features oak branches, with leaves and acorns in their cups, and also misteltoe branches with leaves and the white berries, a harp with seven strings, and, [...] [more...]

Victor Hugo amongst the rocks at Jersey

Victor hugo dans les Rochers de Jersey. [more...]

Gavroche (Les Misérables)

The boy “Gavroche” from the book Les Misérables. A hundred years later the book was made into a musical that was very successful, of coure, and later a film, but at this time it was a book. [more...]

Initial letter D with hiker in forest

This “vignetted” decorative initial features a person with a hat, a satchel, a walking stick, stepping over the initial letter and out of a path in a forest or deep woods. [more...]

François-Victor Hugo

François-Victor Hugo (1828 – 1873) was the fourth child of Victor Hugo. He died young, while his father was still alive.

Victor Hugo at his writing desk

Victor Hugo in his study – A Sketch from Nature by M. Régamey. The picture shows the poet Victor Hugo standing at his writing desk, which the text implies was in his bedroom. The engraving is also signed, “Guillumy, Sc.” (for Sculpt, or engraved). The signature is hard to read and I could not find any [...] [more...]