Folio Archives 418: The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo LE 2014
Original topic subject: Folio Archives 418: The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo 2014
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The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo LIMITED EDITION 2014
Written when Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was living on Guernsey in the Channel Islands, this tale is an adventure with smugglers, dangerous missions and a love interest as the hero struggles to rescue a shipwrecked steamer stuck between rock pinnacles. He endures innumerable hardships and challenges as he pursues his goal, only to encounter a final, devastating twist at the end of the tale. The book was first published in French in 1866.
This edition is illustrated by the author, and Hugo meant his illustrations and words to be inseparable, but this is the first time this occurs with all the pictures placed correctly in the text. The relationship of the illustrations to the novel is curious though; they are not really visualisations of the story but “amount instead to another version of it” as Andrew Graham-Dixon says in his six page foreword.
There is a seven page introduction by Graham Robb and the translation is by James Hogarth. There are 36 full page brown tone illustrations in the xxv + 446 pages with notes on the text in the last 14 pages. The endpapers are plain mid-brown and the book is quarter bound in black goatskin with gilt titling and cloth sides printed with brown tone pictures. There is a dark brown ribbon page marker and the page tops are gilded. It is housed in a dark brown cloth Solander case with an inset brown tone picture of the wreck on the front and gilt titling on the outer edge. The box measures 26.5x21.1x6.7cm.
This was an edition of 1250 copies (my copy is number 1240) and originally cost £195 from the Folio Society.
The Folio Society did not publish a standard edition of this limited edition.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Written when Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was living on Guernsey in the Channel Islands, this tale is an adventure with smugglers, dangerous missions and a love interest as the hero struggles to rescue a shipwrecked steamer stuck between rock pinnacles. He endures innumerable hardships and challenges as he pursues his goal, only to encounter a final, devastating twist at the end of the tale. The book was first published in French in 1866.
This edition is illustrated by the author, and Hugo meant his illustrations and words to be inseparable, but this is the first time this occurs with all the pictures placed correctly in the text. The relationship of the illustrations to the novel is curious though; they are not really visualisations of the story but “amount instead to another version of it” as Andrew Graham-Dixon says in his six page foreword.
There is a seven page introduction by Graham Robb and the translation is by James Hogarth. There are 36 full page brown tone illustrations in the xxv + 446 pages with notes on the text in the last 14 pages. The endpapers are plain mid-brown and the book is quarter bound in black goatskin with gilt titling and cloth sides printed with brown tone pictures. There is a dark brown ribbon page marker and the page tops are gilded. It is housed in a dark brown cloth Solander case with an inset brown tone picture of the wreck on the front and gilt titling on the outer edge. The box measures 26.5x21.1x6.7cm.
This was an edition of 1250 copies (my copy is number 1240) and originally cost £195 from the Folio Society.
The Folio Society did not publish a standard edition of this limited edition.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2PartTimeBookAddict
One of the few LEs in my collection, purposefully sought out because there never was a standard edition. Need to read it one of these days...
Wonderful overview, as always.
Wonderful overview, as always.
3FitzJames
Having remembered seeing some of these illustrations late last month (below), it is a joy to see so many more here. The brown ink wash cover image is perfection.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/start-here-victor-hugo
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/start-here-victor-hugo
