[vi], 57, [2] pp. The first two signatures are bound in reverse order. One plate. (12mo) 16x12.5 cm (6¼x4¼") later full crushed red morocco, covers bordered in gilt, artist's monogram in gilt on front, spine gilt, gilt-ruled dentelles, patterned cloth endleaves, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Original printed orange paper wrappers bound in at front and rear. No. 15 of 15 copies printed on Japan vellum. First Edition.
Tipped-in between pages 38 and 39 is an original pen and ink drawing that is, though unsigned, recognizable as being from the sketchbook of Georges-Victor Hugo. The image, in brown pen and ink, fills most of a 3½ x6" sheet of blue paper, which the author-artist is known to have used extensively in his notebooks. Furthermore, there is evidence of two light "fold" marks in the paper, suggesting the image drawn (in this case a Bacchus-like, or "gargoyle-esque" figure) evolved from a process the author is known to have employed to great success, called "pliage". "In pliage, chance is 'assisted', as Duchamp would put it; the results, however, still come as a surprise... Examples can be found from before his exile (for opposing Napoleon III), and the practice of making symmetrical taches by folding seems to have been an enduring one..." Georges-Victor Hugo was known to take many walks with his talented grandfather, the author Victor Hugo, around the streets of France, some of which are recounted in the present volume. One of only fifteen copies; no other record of this edition having been sold have been found.