"The Toilers of the Sea" by Victor Hugo, published By H.L. Burt Company, New York, Undated, 1880s; illustrated.

Hard boards, original publisher's blue cloth, gold lettering on spine [a little wear, small surface scratcher on spine: see photos]; 5.1/4" x 7.1/2"; frontispiece with tissue guard and 7 monochrome plates on glossy paper, 414 pages, pages next to plate are slightly yellowed, the upper edge of the pages gilt, very good condition.

The book is dedicated to the island of Guernsey, where Hugo spent 15 years in exile. Hugo uses the setting of a small island community to transmute seemingly mundane events into drama of the highest calibre. Les Travailleurs de la Mer is set just after the Napoleonic Wars and deals with the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon the island.

The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on the double Douvres, a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whoever can salvage the ship's steam engine. (The cliff of the double Douvres is not the same as the well-known and dangerous Roches Douvres, which today has a lighthouse – Hugo himself draws attention to this in the work.) Gilliatt eagerly volunteers, and the story follows his physical trials and tribulations (which include a battle with an octopus), as well as the undeserved opprobrium of his neighbors.

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ------------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-6 weeks) ------ $27.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-8 weeks) ------- $34.50