Joseph-Henri ROSNY Elder. Autograph manuscript,... - Lot 177 - Ader

Lot 177
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2000 - 2500 EUR
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Result : 2 560EUR
Joseph-Henri ROSNY Elder. Autograph manuscript,... - Lot 177 - Ader
Joseph-Henri ROSNY Elder. Autograph manuscript, [La Mort de la Terre, 1910]; 128 pages in-fol. Complete working manuscript of this magnificent novel of anticipation, published in eight issues in the journal Les Annales politiques et littéraires from May 29 to July 18, 1910, and in volume by Plon in 1912. The novel takes place on a dry land, where the last men survive painfully, thanks to birth control and euthanasia. Targ, the hero of the book, will try in vain, with his sister Arva, to leave in search of water and new lands, to save what remains of the human race, while a new race of creatures born of iron appears, the Ferromagnetals. At the end of the novel, Targ "had a last sob; death entered his heart and, denying himself Euthanasia, he went out of the ruins, he went to lie in the oasis, among the Ferromagnetals". The manuscript, in tiny handwriting on the front of lined sheets of paper, numbered from 1 to 120, is overloaded with erasures and corrections; there are also passages that have been crossed out, and numerous additions, either between lines or on glued-on blocks or additional sheets. One notes false beginnings crossed out at the back of some sheets, and variants with the final text. The division into 16 chapters is not fixed; the chapters are not numbered, and most of them do not have a title. We note however some chapter titles : Vers les Terres Rouges (p. 22), La planète homicide (p. 37), Au fond des abîmes (p. 54), Et seules survivent les Terres Rouges (p. 68), L'Eau fugitive (p. 72).
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