ROSNY, J.-H. Joseph Henri Honoré BOËX Lot n° 46

Nell Horn [Paris], [1886] COMPLETE AND SIGNED AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF THE FIRST ROMANCE BY J.-H. ROSNY In-4 (347 x 225 mm). 505 pages in various sizes on different papers. Brown ink, numerous erasures and overprints. JAPANESE BINDING OF THE PERIOD. Brown leather, embossed decoration with floral and animal motifs, bradel spine, lining and endpapers with a Japanese print on crepe paper, fully mounted on mitered boards. Wear to binding, upper hinge cracked, margins of some leaves weakened. The manuscript bears the title Nell Horn. The final title will be Nell Horn of the Salvation Army. The work was published by E. Giraud et Cie in 1886, subtitled Roman de moeurs londoniennes. The book depicts London's underworld. Rosny lived there from 1874 to 1883. "The novel [...] is interesting for its realistic aspects (the degradation of a servant girl; depiction of London's squalid and miserable London; linguistic verism) but also for its artistic writing. Nell Horn would then be a naturalistic novel in terms of plot, characters and themes, and at the same time, an impressionist novel in which the blurring of forms and registers demonstrates the author's inclination for poetic prose" (Roberta De Felici). BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.-H. Rosny aîné, Nell Horn de l'Armée du Salut, Paris, 2011, ed. R. De Felici