Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-07-26
Huoo's MANUSCRIPTS.
How He Drew Pictures While Preparing
His Wonderful Stories.

How He Drew Pictures While Preparing
His Wonderful Stories.
Victor Hugo wrote with quill pen
on coarse foolscap - sometimes on
Whitley brown and sometimes on blue.
The right half of the sheet was for the
original draft and the left for correc-
tons. Sometimes the corrections were
so numerous and involved that they
had to be done over again, in which
case half-sheet was wafered over
them, and the revising business re-
sumed on it. If the poet greatly dis
liked some phrase, he Ito prevent,
doubtless, the proof-reader from seeing
of what feebleness of expression he
might be now and then capable) took a
camel's-hair brush. dipped it in his ink
bottle. and rubbed it over the line he
wanted to efface. If he decided in his
own mind that what he wanted to
change for the better was good, he
simply drew curled and continuous
pen-strOke. which left the passage
legible. In some of the pages not on
view in the glass cases in which the
manuscript folios are placed he often
gave clear shape to his ideas of his
personages by drawing them on the
tops of pages or in broad spaces
between the lines. Thus, TribOu-
let is drawn defOrmed but not
grotcsGue. unless in point of raiment.
He is seated on the ground with arms
folded. legs crossed. and the shoes
going into long flexible points. There
is weight of thought on the brow,
and he might be a philosopher and
sage. were it not that he has seen so
much cananlerie among the so-called
great. and has been thereby made too
bitter to be wise. One wonders how q
person who never drew, unless as
school-boys do on the margins of their
books and in c0pyboOks. could have
executed this vignette of the kings
jester, the head of which expresses the
whole character of TribOulet such as
Victor Hugo conceived it, and is as
good as Clouet. One is also struck
with the changes in the character Of
Victor Hugo's writing. In ''Notre
lame de Paris" it is delicate. runs
nimbly on, has only strong downstrokes
to the tails of the letters, and shows
facility, manual and mental. On the
first page there is this entry: IS began
sNotre Dame de Paris on July Is,
1880. The revolution interrupted me,
and then dear little Adele (wh0m
God blessD was born. 1 re-
sumed work on September 20, and
on January Is, 1881, sent the book to !
press In 'Quatre- Vingt-Treize' the
writing is larger and more slanting.
The curled line, Ikea half-drawn-Out
wood shaving, is no longer used for
erasure. Strong horizontal strokes OF
the pen replace it. The paper con-
tinues rough, and is of kind that abb
serbs q good deal of ink. After Mad
anne Dr0uhet became his friend and
secretary, and Victor Hugo feared to
tire his eyes, he used to write with
softer pen. holding good deal Of ink.
ON smoother paper. He did not use .
blotting- sheet or pad, but. if working |
at his high desk, he cast. IS Theirs
used to do, each sheet on the floor. or,
if ut low table desk, to right and left
upon it. Mime. Drouhet. when there
was q pile of sheets scattered around.
came in and arranged the pages; and
when they were in order Victor Hugo
corrected and polished up or strength
ened. In the la Legende des Siecles"
each letter Is bolt upright and moro
than half IN inch high. One here
might almost mistake the handwriting |
Tor Louis Blanc's. Sketches abound %
-<~->~a -~ pw;na = Inalnn Tfaekh