AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO VICTOR HUGO: From the greatest love correspondence of 19th century French literature

DROUET (Juliette). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO VICTOR HUGO. "28 March [1847], Sunday, 2.30 p.m." 4 pages. 21 × 13,5 cm.

"I am waiting for you, my dear beloved, with the softest, the most tender and the best of what I have inside me. If you do not hurry to come, my poor little man, I shall almost not be able to see you of the entire day, for you know that on Sunday you go back even sooner than usual, and that you do not come back during the night. I am very worried, for I see the minutes and the hours follow one another, and you are not coming. Ô, should my heart be able to push your legs and control them, you would be quite soon next to me. Where are you, my Toto, and what are you doing? Are you thinking of me? Are you desiring me, and do you love me a little? What a consolation it would be for me if I were certain that you are thinking of me, that you miss me and that you love me as I am certain that you are the best, the most noble and the most generous of all men, excepting your genius. Unfortunately, all these lovely qualities are as many veils which hide the true state of your heart. Should you not love me anymore, you would be all the more devoted to me, more excellent and more careful to hide it from me, fearing, well-foundedly, that I should become desperate. I know that and it makes me love you even more, although it does not reassure me. I love you my Victor. I adore you, my sublime beloved. Juliette"

Drouet's letters to Victor Hugo form one of the most beautiful correspondences of French literature. While most of them are held at the French National Library, a small portion of them has remained in private hands. Although Drouet's unique figure has traditionally been somewhat shadowed by Hugo's, interest in her has steadily increased in later years. Her role has been reassessed and she is now recognized as a prominent feminine figure of 19th century France. On the literary side, apart from providing constant support to copy Hugo's texts, she is known to have saved his manuscripts when the writer had to leave France after Napoleon III's coup in December 1851.

Some folding and creasing marks.

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