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Last updated 8/10/2026

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In English, roughly: 'When I want to remember the sweet and well-spent days, among the sweetest and best-spent of my life, I go and meditate for a few moments in my living-room, in front of the little voiture de cartes that we made together. It is our masterpiece so far, while we wait for Notre Dame.'

At this time Louise Bertin was 30 years old. The reference to 'Notre Dame' is to her opera 'La Esmerelda' for which Victor Hugo had written the libretto, based on his novel 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

There are two other mentions of Hugo and Bertin building things with cards in previous letters from 1832.

In his letter of 22nd October 1832 Victor Hugo says, 'I would much rather be building a theatre of cards with you.' In the context a 'theatre of cards' may well be a house of cards interpreted as a theatre.

In his letter of 30th October 1832 Victor Hugo says, 'Judge how much I miss Les Roches, and the sweet days and the sweet evenings, and the houses of cards.'

It seems that building things from cards was an occupation Victor Hugo and Louise Bertin enjoyed, and this seems to support an interpretation of 'la petite voiture de cartes' as being based upon, or at least incorporating, the Voiture de Cartes design.

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Letter dated 22nd May 1835

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Letter dated 22nd October 1832

In this letter Victor Hugo says, 'I would much rather be building a theatre of cards with you.'

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Letter dated 30th October 1832

In this letter Victor Hugo says, 'Judge how much I miss Les Roches, and the sweet days and the sweet evenings, and the houses of cards.'

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