The Many Faces (and Book Covers) of Les Misérables
Victor Hugo's magnum opus, Les Misérables, is one of those titanic literary works whose enormous reputation precedes it, thanks mostly to the ultra-successful stage musical, the longest running musical in London's West End, still going strong there and on Broadway. It is hard to think of another French literary work that is so emblematic of both the country and its people. The novel took Hugo over 20 years to compose, during which time he lived through a revolution, a coup d'état, and political exile. Even still, the novel's completion was eagerly awaited not only by the French but the English and Americans as well. Upon its publication, the novel was an enormous bestseller — one of those rare books that both defines and irrevocably alters the era in which it was published. Here are just a few of the covers you may come across on the shelves of your local librairie.
Top row: Left, the title page for the novel's first edition featuring a drawing of its author, Victor Hugo, and his beloved creation, Cosette; right, a rare first edition of the novel—though contemporary critical reception was mixed, the novel proved to be enoromously influential, as many of the social issues addressed in the novel were taken up for debate by the French National Assembly.
Second row: Émile Bayard's illustration of Cosette is the most iconic image from the novel, seen here on the cover of the Everyman's Library hardcover (left). The image was repurposed for the stage musical adaptation, which in turn appeared on t-shirts, CDs, posters, billboards, and this edition from Signet Classics (middle). The image obviously inspired the poster for the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the musical, used on this Penguin tie-in edition (right), featuring actress Isabelle Allen as the young Cosette.
Third row: Left, an abridged, film tie-in edition for the lesser-known, 1998 non-musical adaptation starring Liam Neeson as Valjean, Geoffrey Rush as Janvert, and Uma Thurman as Cosette. From Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books, the current "Enriched Classic" edition (right) of the novel showing imagery drawn from the 1832 June Rebellion on its cover, another popular cover image.
Fourth row: Three versions of the novel from Penguin Classics; the 80s-90s edition (left), translated by Norman Denny, featuring a rather hermitish Valjean; the "black spine" edition of the translation (middle), featuring another Revolutionary scene, Battle at the St. Denis Gate by Hippolyte Lecomte; from Spain, Penguin Clásico's Los miserables (right) adapts the iconic painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix so symbolic of French History.
Fifth row: The full cover spread and French flaps for the gorgeous Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, a new translation by Christine Donougher.
Sixth row: As mentioned previously in this series, due to industry restrictions in French publishing, longer books are split into two (or more) volumes, such is the case here with Le Livre de poches' edition of the novel, featuring Cosette (Vol. 1, left) and Gavroche (Vol. 2, right).
Seventh row: French publisher Folio's two volumes of the novel currently in print.
Eighth row: Les Mis given the Classics Illustrated treatment — a 50s edition (left) with a somewhat sinister, almost supernatural, splash page (center), and a mid-60s edition (right) with a cover that seems inspired by the Hercules sword-and-sandal films in vogue at the time.
