HUGO (Victor) - Ruy Blas. Paris, Delloye, 1838. In-8, bound - Lot 135

HUGO (Victor) - Ruy Blas. Paris, Delloye, 1838. In-8, bound in brown boards. First edition. Part of volume VII of the OEuvres complètes. Ex Libris de St Genies - Ex Libris Paul MEURICE. Provenance: Library of Paul MEURICE, then by direct descent. Eighteen-year-old Paul Meurice, who had been introduced to Hugo by his friend Auguste Vacquerie, was Hugo's frequent visitor. He had literary ideas and for several years tried his hand at a career as a playwright, staging several plays. In 1848, Hugo made him editor-in-chief of the newspaper L'Événement, which he had just founded, leading to his imprisonment in 1851. His relationship with Hugo was very close: the poet was best man at his friend's wedding to Palmyre Granger, daughter of the painter Jean-Pierre Granger. During Victor Hugo's twenty years in exile, Meurice was in charge of the outlawed writer's financial and literary interests. He also continued his own literary career, publishing novels (some in collaboration with Alexandre Dumas, for whom he was a penman) and plays. He adapted Notre-Dame de Paris, Les Misérables and Quatrevingt-treize for the stage. With Vacquerie and Victor Hugo's sons, Meurice founded the newspaper Le Rappel in 1869. When Victor Hugo died in 1885, Meurice and Vacquerie were appointed executors of his will. In this capacity, Meurice was responsible for arranging the poet's posthumous collections. In 1902, he founded the Maison de Victor Hugo in Paris (wikipedia).