January 1863 - Reading in Richmond

In January 1863, according to Reminiscences in Peace and War, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables had been reprinted by a Charleston firm "on the best paper they could get" which was apparently not very good. Mrs. Pryor's friend Agnes in Richmond relates that everyone is reading it, even soldiers. "You'll go wild over over that book -- I did -- and everybody does." (page 226)