Morning Post – Saturday 03 June 1871. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A report from London about the extradition of Victor Hugo from Brussels, following the fall of the Commune in Paris. There could hardly be a better example of the early forms of political spectatorship, its opponents and proponents. Better yet, the subject of the letter, Hugo – a novelist and playwright, for whom the Commune had functioned as a muse – is described as likely to make a scene. Politics and theater, actors and spectators, participants and distant onlookers are all made present within this short excerpt.