Victor Hugo - Autograph Letter Signed To The Poet Adèle Caldelar

Autograph letter signed from Victor Hugo (1802-1885) to the poet and fabulist Adèle Caldelar (1801-1869), author of Fables morales et religieuses (1844).

Paris, April 21, 1844, to Adèle Caldelar; Large in-8 on a double leaf with autograph address. Black wax stamp.

Size: 19.4 cm x 27.2 cm unfolded. Single leaf: 19.4 x 13.6 cm. With thin magnetic Plexiglas frame (included): 22.5 x 33 cm

Victor Hugo's warmest encouragement to the Vendée schoolteacher, poet and fabulist, Adèle Caldelar following the dispatch of her collection Fables morales et religieuses (1844), praised by Lamartine, Chateaubriand and Alfred de Vigny. (Attached is a recent biography of Adèle Calderar by Christophe Merel, Adèle Caldelar, Vie et œuvres d'une muse vendéenne, 2021)

The year 1844 was a period of profound transition for Victor Hugo, struck full force a few months earlier by the tragic death of his eldest daughter Léopoldine, tragically drowned with her husband in Villequier on September 4, 1843.

In this month of April, the trauma is still burning. Shattered by grief, Hugo has almost completely stopped writing for the public and publishing. His play Les Burgraves having failed just before the tragedy, he stepped away from the theater for good. It was around the time of this letter that he began to accumulate scattered notes and poems that would later form the collection Les Contemplations.

"What a beautiful book, Madame, and what a charming book!"

Beneath this silk and gold, what grace and wit and heart.

I thank you for having had the idea of dedicating this precious collection to me. I thank you for telling me so in beautiful verse.

I lay my thanks, and my respect, at your feet, Madame.

Victor Hugo

April 21

[On the autograph address page, in Victor Hugo's hand, we read: ]

Madame Veuve Caldelar (Followed by the address. In another hand: Victor Hugo, April 21, 1844)