HUGO, Victor "Les Misérables" [Naumbourg, 1862] 1st Pirated Edition

HUGO, Victor. Les Misérables.

Bruxelles: Naumbourg, chez G. Paetz, Libraire-Éditeur, 1862. First Belgian “pirated” edition, issued contemporaneously with the Paris publication. Four volumes, comprising all seventeen parts (I–XVII) complete. 16mo, 5.5" x 4", 2,653pp. Bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt lettering and decoration to spines, marbled edges. Boards and spine surfaces well rubbed with some scuffing and wear at extremities; scattered foxing, light moisture staining, and age toning to textblock but bindings tight and text clean overall. Good.

Issued in Brussels without the author’s authorization to meet immense early demand, this Naumbourg/Paetz edition represents the first small-format Belgian impression of Les Misérables - a compact and affordable alternative to the larger Paris and Lacroix octavo sets. Printed in seventeen thin parts and commonly bound, as here, into four or five volumes. Each part bears the 1862 date, confirming contemporaneous issue. A scarce and bibliographically significant Brussels printing documenting the unauthorized continental spread of Hugo’s masterpiece at the moment of its first appearance.