{"product_id":"victor-hugo-les-miserables-washington-square-press-paperback-wilbour-translation-abridged-by-paul-benichou-tenth-printing-1977","title":"Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Washington Square Press Paperback, Wilbour Translation Abridged by Paul Bénichou, Tenth Printing, 1977","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA thick paperback with a cover that has aged into something better than it started as. The ground is a printed speckled cream, the sort of faux-recycled stock the 1970s used to signal seriousness, and against it the author's name and title are set in a tall condensed serif in deep blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBelow the type sits the whole argument of the book in one image: a wood-engraved figure of a man in shirtsleeves and work trousers, stooped, hands clasped over the top of a stick, head down. No background, no scene, nothing but the figure and his shadow. It is Jean Valjean drawn as a labourer rather than a hero.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spine and back carry the same cream ground, the back given over entirely to a description of the novel set in a classical serif. The Pocket Books kangaroo colophon sits at the lower right of the front with the price beneath it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInside, the paper has toned evenly to warm cream. The title page is set in an open, well-spaced style with fine triple rules above and below.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis copy dates itself to the month, which is rare in a paperback.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe copyright page states: Washington Square Press edition published November, 1964; tenth printing, May, 1977. Copyright © 1964 by Simon \u0026amp; Schuster, Inc. Published by Pocket Books, a Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Division of Gulf \u0026amp; Western Corporation, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York. ISBN 0-671-48830-9. Printed in the U.S.A. The cover carries the Pocket number 48830 and a price of $1.95.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo: the text setting is from 1964, and this physical copy was printed in May 1977. Not an estimate, not a range — the book says so.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe translation is worth knowing about. Charles E. Wilbour's English version appeared in 1862, the same year Hugo published the novel in French, which makes it the oldest English translation still in general circulation. It reads closer to nineteenth-century English prose than any modern rendering, because it is nineteenth-century English prose. The abridgement and introduction are by Paul Bénichou, the French literary historian.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo things stated plainly. First, \u003cstrong\u003ethis edition is abridged\u003c\/strong\u003e. Hugo's complete novel runs well past a thousand pages and includes the long essayistic digressions on Waterloo, the Paris sewers, convent life and argot; Bénichou's edition cuts. If you want every word, this is not the copy for that, and we would rather you knew before you clicked than after it arrived. Second, this is a tenth printing of a mass-market paperback. It is a reading copy and a display object, not a scarce edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePaperback book\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTitle\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eLes Misérables\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAuthor\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVictor Hugo\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTranslator \u0026amp; Editor\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTranslated by Charles E. Wilbour; abridged, edited and introduced by Paul Bénichou\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePublisher\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWashington Square Press \/ Pocket Books, a Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Division of Gulf \u0026amp; Western Corporation, New York\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMass-market paperback with illustrated wrappers. Abridged text.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCopyright page reads “Washington Square Press edition published November, 1964” and “10th printing … May, 1977”; copyright © 1964 by Simon \u0026amp; Schuster, Inc.; ISBN 0-671-48830-9; cover priced $1.95\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003e1977. Printed May 1977.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGood, as a read copy. The binding is sound and square with no loose or missing pages, and the text is clean and fully legible throughout with no marking or underlining. The cover ground is a printed speckle, and over it there is additional scattered tan spotting from age, most visible on the back panel. There is a small crease and whitening at one lower corner, light rubbing along the spine and edges, and the text block has toned evenly to cream. No inscriptions, no tears, no odour. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe cover is the reason to own this particular copy. Cream and deep blue with a single wood-engraved figure is restrained in a way that paperback design almost never is, and it reads as a print rather than as packaging. Stood face-out on a shelf or leaned against a lamp it looks like something chosen, not something left over.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is also the most approachable way into a novel most people mean to read and never do. Abridged is a fair trade when the alternative is unread, and Wilbour's Victorian English carries the register of the thing — the melodrama, the moral weight, the sheer forward drive — better than a tidied modern translation does.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd it is a small, cheap, genuinely good gift. Anyone who knows the musical and has never read the book, anyone working through the nineteenth century, anyone who likes an old paperback with real design on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA note on care: this is 1970s mass-market paper, acidic by construction, and it will continue to brown. Keep it out of direct sun, which fades cover ink and yellows page edges faster than anything else. Shelve it upright rather than buried under a stack, since sustained pressure sets fresh creases into a soft cover. Never use liquid on the cover; the ink sits on a coated surface and will lift. An archival polypropylene sleeve costs almost nothing and will slow the toning considerably.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48029013966953,"sku":null,"price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_3713.jpg?v=1788997109","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/victor-hugo-les-miserables-washington-square-press-paperback-wilbour-translation-abridged-by-paul-benichou-tenth-printing-1977","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}