FLAUBERT Gustave La Tentation de Saint Antoine.

Vicaire, III, 728; Clouzot, 121; Carteret, I, 269 (with quotation in his article “Propos Bibliophiliques” with reproduction of the inscription p. 17-19); Talvart & Place, VI, p.7:5.

First edition, copy offered by Flaubert to Victor Hugo.

It is dedicated to “A la mémoire de mon ami Alfred Lepoitevin”, childhood friend of Flaubert and uncle of Maupassant.

Magnificent autograph inscription signed on the half-title in brown ink: 

“Au Maitre des Maitres 

c’est à dire a Victor Hugo 

j’offre avec tremblement 

La Tentation de Saint Antoine 

Gve Flaubert”. 

Constant admiration and mutual respect.

Flaubert had genuine admiration for Victor Hugo, and the word “master” is repeated in almost all of his letters. Thus Madame Bovary is dedicated “To the Master, in memory and homage “ (Bibliothèque Pierre Bergé, I, no. 84), Salammbô is also ”To the Master“ and signed with the phrase ”Maximo Parvus“ (”from the smallest to the greatest”).

Our copy confirms Hugo’s place in Flaubert’s heart and reaffirms his position with determination. This gift, even more than the others, not only puts Hugo on a pedestal but also emphasizes Flaubert’s position as a student. The latter offers his work and eagerly and apprehensively awaits the master’s judgment.

This won’t take long, as Hugo replies on April 5, 1874, just after sending this copy: “A philosopher who is a charmer; that is what you are. Your book is as full as a forest. I love its shade and its light. High thought and great prose are the two things I love; I find them in you. I read you, and I will read you again.” (Hugo, Œuvres Complètes, Correspondances, Tome IV, Paris, Albin Michel, 1952, p.9)

While Flaubert constantly sought Hugo’s recognition, the latter was always inclined to respond to the sending of these copies with kindness and consideration:

After reading Madame Bovary, Hugo wrote : « Vous avez fait un beau livre, Monsieur, et je suis heureux de vous le dire. Il y a entre vous et moi une sorte de lien qui m’attache à vos succès. […] Madame Bovary est une œuvre […] Vous êtes, Monsieur, un des esprits conducteurs de la génération à laquelle vous appartenez. Continuez de [tenir] haut devant elle le flambeau de l’art. Je suis dans les ténèbres, mais j’ai l’amour de la lumière” (lettre, 30 août 1857).

He repeated this in 1862, at the reception of Salammbô : “Je vous remercie de m’avoir fait lire Salammbô. C’est un beau, puissant et savant livre […] Recevez donc, Monsieur, mon applaudissement, recevez-le, comme je vous l’offre, avec cordialité” (lettre du 6 décembre 1862).

The mutual admiration never faded. Flaubert sent Hugo his latest work, Trois Contes, with the following inscription : « à Victor Hugo, hommage de mon admiration illimitée, et de ma tendresse filiale, Gve Flaubert », (vente Sickles, I, n^o 71)

This inscription confirms what is emerging in the relationship between the two men, a literary filiation desired by Flaubert and warmly welcomed by Hugo.

Provenance : Baron Henri de Rothschild (see Carteret, this copy) – Daniel Sickles (II, 1989, n° 337) – Jaime Ortiz-Patiño (II, 1998, n° 43) – Pierre Bergé (bookplate ; II, n° 362).