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a close up of a piece of paper with writing on ita black and white image of a handwritten letter on a piece of paper
Ader

354 - Adèle Foucher, Mrs Victor HUGO (1803–1868).
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,500
Sale commission
Description
Adèle Foucher, Mrs Victor HUGO (1803–1868). Autograph letter signed ‘Adèle’, Saint Hélier [Jersey], 12 May [1853], to a friend; 4 pages, in-8. A very interesting letter concerning the daguerreotypes and photographs of the Hugo family in Jersey. Adèle announces that she is sending ‘portraits of my sons; they have just come from Auguste [Vacquerie]’s workshop. These portraits are on paper, whilst Charles uses glass. Both photographic processes are equally good, but produce different results. Glass is more precise and finer, paper broader and richer. – You see, dear madam, that we are involved in art, and very much so. Our little house has been transformed into a studio; Toto [François-Victor] in particular, the daguerreotypist, has taken over the house. We hardly ever go out; a small garden that we tend serves as our exercise, and it is regularly weeded, raked and pruned, just like the one belonging to the grocer at the gate. My husband is saddened by this and says wistfully that we are depriving him of the right to criticise the bourgeoisie’... Yet they do not live in solitude; outlaws frequent them, and her daughter Adèle attracts suitors. She recounts young Adèle’s first outing to the ball, ‘dressed in white like an ermine’... She suffers from ‘the degradation of France’, which is sinking into shame… She is moved by the atmosphere of freedom that reigns in Jersey, ‘that little country which governs itself’… Spain, where they had hoped to spend the winter, has been closed to them. She asks her friend to tell her what is happening in France. One last piece of advice: ‘Have the portraits mounted on white paper; the margins must be very wide’...
See original version (French)
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
Auction location
Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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