Léon HENNIQUE. Autograph manuscript signed, La tragédie d'Ot - Lot 439

Léon HENNIQUE. Autograph manuscript signed, La tragédie d'Othello le Maure de Venise, [1892]; [3]-140pages large in-8 (23.5x15.5cm), written on front, leaves in purple silk cardboard folder with embroidered border and title. Complete manuscript of this unpublished translation of Shakespeare's play. There are two title pages; the first bears the indication "en 7 tableaux et en prose" and the author's address "22, rue des Écuries d'Artois"; the second, entitled simply Othello, is marked "en cinq actes et 7 tableaux", and the address has been crossed out and replaced by "11, rue Decamps", where Hennique moved in 1892. On the premiere, Hennique pasted a press clipping from Le Figaro, indicating that Porel, director of the Odéon, had received and would stage this "new translation of Shakespeare's Othello", with "an important musical part" commissioned from Henri Maréchal. But the play was never staged, and remains unpublished. The manuscript is neatly drawn up in brown ink, with a few rare erasures and corrections. Each of the 7 tableaux is paginated separately (14, 15, 27, 31, 32, 6 and 15 pages), with no mention of the act. The two title pages are followed by the list of "Characters". At the head of the first page of the play, Hennique has crossed out "La tragédie d'". The embroidered silk chemise was made by the author's daughter, Nicolette Hennique (1882-1956). Attached is the complete autograph manuscript of a first version of this Othello, 163 pages small in-4 (20.5x16cm) with erasures and corrections, arranged in 7 folders with pagination by tableau: Act I, 1er tableau (14p.), 2e tableau (16p.); Act II (30p.); Act III (38p.); Act IV (40p.); Act V, 1er tableau (7p.), 2e tableau (18p.).