Francisco DE GOYA (1746-1828) Los Caprichos Complete suite of 80 plates, second edition 1855. Etching and aquatint on wove paper. Very fine stapled proofs in cardboard covers with the self-portrait on the front cover, cover a little worn (yellowing, rubbing, small tears and stains). Proofs slightly yellowed, with some dampening, scattered foxing, small spots, binding holes at left edge. Endpapers and transition leaves yellowed with a few creases, no title page. Subjects: 21.5 x 15 cm. Sheets: 32 x 21.5 cm. (Harris 36 to 115, II/XII; Delteil 38 to 117) Provenance: Paul MEURICE Collection (1818-1905) (ex-libris) ; By descent to the present owner. Paul Meurice was a French novelist and playwright, best known for his many years of friendship with Victor Hugo. A pupil at the Cours Charlemagne, he began his studies by studying law at the Faculté. Nevertheless, he showed a greater interest in literature. His meeting with Victor Hugo in 1836, through his friend Auguste Vacquerie, proved to be of vital importance to the 18-year-old Paul Meurice. Indeed, their shared interest in literature and theater prompted the latter to try his hand at a career as a playwright, staging plays such as Sophocles' Antigone in 1844, and in 1848 Hugo appointed him editor-in-chief of the newspaper l'Évènement, which he had just founded. Paul Meurice and Victor Hugo formed a close friendship. Hugo was best man at Meurice's wedding when he married Palmyre Granger, daughter of the painter Jean-Pierre Granger. He was also a regular guest at Veules-les-Roses, where Meurice owned a house on the Normandy coast. Finally, when Victor Hugo went into exile in Guernsey, Paul Meurice was put in charge of managing the writer's financial and literary interests. During this period, the writer pursued his own writing career, publishing novels (some in collaboration with Alexandre Dumas) and plays. He adapted Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables for the stage. Finally, with Auguste Vacquerie and Victor Hugo's sons, Meurice founded his own newspaper, Le Rappel, in 1869. When Victor Hugo died in 1885, Meurice and Vacquerie were appointed executors of his will. In this capacity, he was responsible for arranging the poet's posthumous collections. He founded the Maison de Victor Hugo in Paris in 1902.