1) Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
I use several different translations, but mainly the original one by Lascelles Wraxall, that being the one Hugo actually authorized and approved. Curiously enough, the translation that's online, and that most people tend to cite on their own sites, the Isabella Hapgood translation, I have never read. But I have, in addition to the Wraxall, the Norman Denny, the Charles Wilbour, and two or three others that are uncredited, but definitely distinct from the others.
Note added 6/6/2000: I also have a first edition French language version, which definitely helps for translation problems and clarification
2) Cole, Robert: A Traveller's History Of Paris (Interlink Books, 1994)
3) Brogan, D. W.: The French Nation: From Napoleon to Petain, 1814-1940 (Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1957)
4) O'Brien, Patricia: The Promise Of Punishment: Prisons in 19th Century France (Princeton University Press, 1982)
Don't ask me how I got this book. I found it in a used bookstore. Talk about your niche audience!
5) Josephson, Matthew: Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography Of The Great Romantic (Doubleday, Doran & Co. 1942)
6) Edwards, Samuel: Victor Hugo: A Tumultuous Life (David McKay Co, Inc. 1971)
7) Escholier, Raymond: Victor Hugo—translated from the French by Lewis Galantiere (Payson & Clarke Ltd. 1930)
8) Hugo, Adèle: Victor Hugo, By A Witness Of His Life (Carleton Publisher, 1864) translated by Charles Wilbour.
This edition came from the library of Bowdoin College, Maine, and the inscription dates it as a gift to the college in 1864, the year of publication. Anyone who saw the movie "Gettysburg" remembers Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who led that spectacular bayonet charge at the Battle of Little Round Top—well he was from Bowdoin College (professor of Rhetoric) and later went to become president of the college. Oh, and he also became governor of Maine. My point being, it's quite possible that at some point, that man handled this copy of this book. I think that is exceptionally cool.
9) Chauvel, Aimee D. and Forrester, M.: The Extraordinary House Of Victor Hugo In Guernsey: (Toucan Press, 1975)
Here's another rare book: it's a forty page booklet printed in Guernsey. I have a friend who works for the Smithsonian Institution who ran over to the Library of Congress to make me a copy. I have cool friends.
10) Pool, Daniel: What Jane Austen Ate And Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox-Hunting to Whist, The Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England (Touchstone books, 1993)
This book, unlike most of the others, is widely available. It is also highly informative for anyone interested in the early to mid-1800's, the pre- and early-Victorian era, which is different from the later period more commonly called "Victorian" and more closely associated with Sherlock Holmes and the like.
11) Richards, Rand: Historic San Francisco: A Concise History And Guide (Heritage House Publishers, 1991)
12) Lynch, Tony: Dickens's England (Facts On File Publications, 1986)
A gazetteer of all the places mentioned in Dickens' works.
13) Burke, James: The Day The Universe Changed (Little, Brown & Co., 1985)
A companion volume to the PBS series (now shown irregularly on TLC, when they're not showing another Alien Autopsy show... grrrrr). James Burke is one of my favorite people ever. Connections, Connections², The Day The Universe Changed and Connections³ are also available on video at the Discovery Channel Store (formerly The Nature Company). If you ever wanted to know where ideas come from, these are the series to watch. The reason I list this as a reference is because of the attention the series pays to the rapid social and environmental changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th-early 19th centuries.
14) Winn, Dylis (ed.) Murder Ink (Workman Publishing, 1977)
This book has been my friend since it came out. Yes, that means I had a copy at the age of 11. It has never failed me as a reference work, and this project is no exception: it has a nice primer on Vidocq inside it, as well as an article on the Sûreté and of course the Haycroft-Queen Definitive Library of Detective-Crime-Mystery Fiction, a chronological list of the cornerstones of the Mystery genre... on which Les Misérables is listed beneath Vidocq's Memoirs, Poe's Tales, Dickens' Bleak House and of course Wilkie Collins, who wrote the immortal Ticket-of-Leave Man.
15) Morton, Desmond A Military History of Canada (McClelland and Stewart, 1992)
16) The Catholic Encyclopedia (Robert Appleton Company, 1912)
17) Robb, Graham Victor Hugo, A Biography (W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1997)
18) Burke, James Connections (Little, Brown, & Co., 1978)
This is listed for the same reason as the other one; it's the companion volume to the first series he did, and contains more along the same commentary. Highly informative, especially some of the stuff about 19th century medicine.
19) Verne, Jules Famille Sans Nom (Family Without A Name) Online edition. No copyright attached. No translator's name attached.
A fictional account of a historical episode that few Americans have ever even heard about: the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-1838. This book weaves through the history of that time in much the same manner as oh say Gone With The Wind does for the Civil War Era, or, perhaps closer, the Saint-Denis section of Les Misérables follows the actual events of 1832 in Paris. This book is the saga of a family, descended of a famous traitor, seeking to redeem itself in the midst of the fight for Canadian independence from England. A very, very cool book. And the fact that it's written by Jules Verne, whom most people associate either with adventure ("Around The World In Eighty Days") or science fiction ("From The Earth To The Moon," "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea," etc.) makes it really really really cool. Something like if H.G. Welles had written Ivanhoe or something.
20) Hendrickson, Robert (editor) The Literary Life And Other Curiosities (Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994)
Full of very interesting anecdotes, including the origin of the "Hangman's Verse."
21) Fido,
Martin The Chronicle of Crime: Infamous Villains of Modern History and
their Hideous Crimes (Carlton Books Ltd, 1993)
A compendium of crime from
the early 1800's to the present day, presented in the form of newspaper
articles. From this I borrowed (quite liberally) from the true case of Pierre
Voirbo, who butchered his victim, sewed the bits into calico bags and left them
all over Paris in 1869. That case was solved by a member of the Sûreté, Gustave
Macé, in exactly the same manner as described by Javert. No doubt that's
where M. Macé got his inspiration from...
22) Hughes, Robert The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's
Founding (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987)
Probably the definitive work on the
transportation of convicts to Australia. Much of the information used with
regards to the Ouroborous
comes directly from this tome, or the works referenced in it, with regards to
the treatment of prisoners, the details of the typical crossing, and what
happened to them afterwards. I will continue to use it as events warrant. But I
recommend reading it. Highly.
23) Magoun, F. Alexander The Frigate Constitution and Other
Historic Ships (Dover Press, 1897, reprinting an earlier work by the Marine
Research Society of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1928)
This book has the detailed
blueprints of the USS Constitution (if you've ever been to Boston and haven't
toured Old Ironsides, you're missing something great), which serves more or less
as a model for the Ouroborous. This lets me figure out what's going on where.
Any lack of clarity is my fault. Also, it should be noted, are the blueprints
for the clipper ship Flying Cloud, the first ship to sail from New York
to San Francisco in under 90 days (that's well before the Panama Canal, people).
The history of the clipper ship was referenced in the description of the Éponine,
which although it's a little early for actual clippers and the eminent craftsman
who perfected them, Donald McKay, I managed to fudge the dates a bit by making
the Éponine something of a prototype clipper. A very successful prototype, as
it's turning out...
24) Kemp, Peter (editor) The Oxford Companion to Ships and
Sailing (Oxford University Press, 1976)
The big doorstop of a compendium to
all things nautical. Charts, maps, diagrams, you name it. Without which I would
be even more confused about these darn ships. Covers everything from the first
dugout canoes to Viking ships to Roman oared warships to sail to present day,
from ancient navies to present ones, civilian and military practices, and of
course naval slang (very useful).
25) Shipley, Joseph T. Dictionary of Word Origins (Littlefield, Adams & Co., 1967)
Quirky little volume full of lots of potential Final Jeopardy questions. More little fiddly bits of trivia,
especially with regards puns and the French language. Which ones I've used, you'll have to find them
yourselves.
