Victor Hugo handwritten signed letter to the poet Adèle Calderar

  

Paris, April 21, 1844, to Adèle Caldelar; large in-8 on a double leaf with autograph address. Size: 19.4 cm x 27.2 cm unfolded. Single leaf: 19.4 x 13.6 cm. With fine magnetic plexiglass frame (included): 22.5 x 33 cm.

Very warm words of encouragement from Victor Hugo to the schoolteacher, poet, and fabulist from Vendée, Adèle Caldelar, following the sending of her collection (1844), praised by Lamartine, Chateaubriand, and Alfred de Vigny. Included is a recent biography of Adèle Calderar by Christophe Merel.

Adèle Caldelar, Life and Works of a Muse from Vendée. The year 1844 was a period of profound transition for Victor Hugo, hit hard a few months earlier by the tragic death of his eldest daughter Léopoldine, who drowned with her husband in Villequier on September 4, 1843.

In this month of April, the trauma is still raw. Broken by grief, Hugo had almost completely stopped writing for the public and publishing. His play Les Burgraves had failed just before the tragedy, and he was definitively distancing himself from the theater. It was around the time of this letter that he began gathering scattered notes and poems that would later become the collection Les Contemplations.

What a beautiful book, Madam, and what a charming book! Under this silk and gold, how much grace, wit, and elegance. I thank you for having had the idea of dedicating this precious collection to me. I thank you for telling me so in beautiful verses.

I place at your feet, Madam, my thanks and my respect. [On the autograph address page, in Victor Hugo’s hand, one reads:]. Madame Veuve Caldelar Followed by the address. In another hand: Victor Hugo, April 21, 1844. Below, Victor Hugo by Étienne Carjat, 1876.