# Is "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (Hurst and Blackett, 1862) is identified by: The first authorized British translation, its distribution rights purchased directly from Hugo and its translator, Sir Frederick Charles Lascelles Wraxall, recommended to him by the exiled French writer Alphonse Esquiros, was published by Hurst and Blackett, London, complete in October 1862. Chronological and textual priority for the first complete English translation actually belongs to Charles E.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first authorized British translation, its distribution rights purchased directly from Hugo and its translator, Sir Frederick Charles Lascelles Wraxall, recommended to him by the exiled French writer Alphonse Esquiros, was published by Hurst and Blackett, London, complete in October 1862
- The first edition is bound in red quarter roan with a gilt-lettered and decorated spine over red pebble-grain cloth sides, marbled endpapers and edges, collating as three octavo volumes rather than the five-part form in which Hugo originally conceived the novel
- Wraxall, who considered himself an authority on the Battle of Waterloo, altered or cut passages where Hugo's account of Napoleon's downfall conflicted with his own historical views, so the authorized British text differs from Hugo's French original in places, and it also leaves scattered lines of dialogue untranslated
- Publisher imprint reads Hurst and Blackett
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Victor Hugo |
| Publisher | Hurst and Blackett |
| Year | 1862 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first authorized British translation, its distribution rights purchased directly from Hugo and its translator, Sir Frederick Charles… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first authorized British translation, its distribution rights purchased directly from Hugo and its translator, Sir Frederick Charles Lascelles Wraxall, recommended to him by the exiled French writer Alphonse Esquiros, was published by Hurst and Blackett, London, complete in October 1862. The first edition is bound in red quarter roan with a gilt-lettered and decorated spine over red pebble-grain cloth sides, marbled endpapers and edges, collating as three octavo volumes rather than the five-part form in which Hugo originally conceived the novel. Wraxall, who considered himself an authority on the Battle of Waterloo, altered or cut passages where Hugo's account of Napoleon's downfall conflicted with his own historical views, so the authorized British text differs from Hugo's French original in places, and it also leaves scattered lines of dialogue untranslated.

## Is this the true first?
Chronological and textual priority for the first complete English translation actually belongs to Charles E. Wilbour's American edition, published in New York by Carleton in five volumes issued monthly from June to October 1862 and widely credited by booksellers as the first edition in English; Hurst and Blackett's Wraxall translation, complete the same month, is properly the first authorized British edition, its United Kingdom distribution rights having been purchased directly from Hugo.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
All later unabridged English translations - by Isabel Hapgood, Norman Denny, Julie Rose, and others - are independent, more literal renderings unconnected to Wraxall's altered 1862 text; Wilbour's own 1862 Carleton translation is likewise independent of Wraxall, being a separate, contemporaneous American rendering rather than a later one, and a modern one-volume translation credited to a different translator is not descended from the Hurst and Blackett first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Les Misérables* by Victor Hugo a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/les-mis-rables
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.