To the United States of America (Aux Etats-Unis d'Amerique) by Verdigris Press
“This is Victor Hugo’s impassioned plea to the American public to rescind the condemnation to death by hanging of John Brown on December 16, 1859. It is addressed to the Editor of the ‘London News,’ but is clearly directed to the American people. He refers to the American Republic as the sister of the French Republic and urges her to follow universal moral law and save John Brown. The mezzotint is of a man’s feet, obviously from a hanging body, in chains.” - Verdigris Press:
This open letter to the Editor was published by the press on both sides of the Atlantic.
Excerpt: “America is a noble nation. The impulse of humanity sprigs quickly into life among a free people. We may yet hope that Brown will be saved. If it were otherwise, if Brown should dies on the scaffold … what a terrible calamity!. The executioner of Brown, let us avow it openly … would be neither the attorney Hunter, nor the judge Parker, nor the Governor Wise, nor the State of Virginia; it would be, though we can scarce think or speak of it without a shudder, the whole American Republic.”
Processes, Dimensions, and Edition Information
Text by Victor Hugo
Illustration by Judith Rothchild
[Octon, France]: Verdigris Press, 2007. Edition of 45 (40 + 5 hors commerce).7 7/8 x 4 5/8” page size; 14 pages. Letterpress printed. Text on Rives BFK paper. Gravure on Hahnemuhle. Bound leporello style with two accordion folds on each board. Bilingual with French text on left accordion and English translation on the recto accordion. Double page mezzotint unfolds across the middle base of the book when opened fully. Bound in brown marbled paper boards. Title bind embossed on the front board. Black cloth spine with paper title label. Black cloth spine for accordions which become the fore-edges of the book presentation. In slipcase covered in brown marbled paper, lined with black paper. Bound and printed by Mark Lintott. Numbered. Signed by Judith Rothchild on the colophon.