L’Année terrible
One of 20 deluxe copies on China paper (no. 6).
Mounted in the copy: a large smoke proof (300 x 280 mm) printed on China paper of one of Daniel Vierge's bindings.
(Daniel Urrabieta Ortiz y Vierge, known as Daniel Vierge) reworking the subject of page 102, “Shell falling near Notre-Dame.” A similar proof is preserved at the Musée Carnavalet (G.20241).
The collection comprises 97 poems, with a prologue (Les 7 500 000 oui) and an epilogue. It chronicles the year 1870–1871, during which France, following its defeat in the war against Prussia, witnessed the uprising of the working class in Paris.
Some poems also evoke the grief suffered by Victor Hugo at the death of his son Charles, whose funeral, held between the Gare d’Orléans and Père-Lachaise cemetery, took place on the very first day of the Parisian uprising. Out of respect for Victor Hugo, the insurgents opened the barricades to let the funeral procession pass. The poet never forgot this gesture, despite his disagreements with the Commune.
The autograph manuscript is preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.