Timeline
Presented as a chart with character birthdates and important events of the novel, side-by-side with relevant points of history. From the Pocket Classiques edition of the book. [French | English]
Daily life before indoor plumbing
A resource I drew up, mostly for fanfiction authors concerned about the details of everyday life. [English]
Early 19th-century French currency
Another resource post, this time on the details of the currency system at the time Les Mis is set. [English]
Rigolette’s budget
From Eugène Sue’s The Mysteries of Paris: a grisette named Rigolette explains in great detail to the (rich, astonished, masquerading as poor) main character, who has just moved into a room on the floor below hers, how she manages to live on 1.5 francs a day. (For comparison, Feuilly earns 3 francs a day as a fanmaker and Marius’ annual earnings as a translator break down to about 2 francs a day.) [English translation]
Units of measure
Currencies and measures of size in early 19th century France and their modern equivalents, from the Pocket Classiques edition. [French | English | Side-by-side]
Lettre de M. Francis de Miollis
Monseigneur de Miollis was an actual bishop of Digne who was the inspiration for Mgr Myriel; his nephew, Francis de Miollis, was none too pleased with the lack of Catholic orthodoxy in this thinly-veiled depiction of his uncle. [French |English | Side-by-side]
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