Description

RARE FIRST EDITIONIt was never printed on large paper.

Precious autograph signed letter to Stéphane Mallarmé :

"to my friend S. Mallarmé
Henry Becque

Known for his caustic and biting portrayal of the 19th-century petty bourgeoisie, Henry Becque wrote a dozen plays, including Les Corbeaux and La Parisienne which have now become one of the classics of thepink comedy".
According to the article in La Revue indépendante in December 1886, Mallarmé read this slim play as soon as he received it, but was not a spectator of this one-act comedy until it was revived: "So I make little difference, taking an example
the admiration I have retained for several years for a reading of M. Becque's comedy, Honest Women and the pleasure derived from its revival yesterday. Whether the actress awakens the spiritual text or whether it's my vision of a reader on the sidelines, that's it.
like the other works of this rare author, a modern masterpiece in the style of the old theatre. The phrase sings its melody of good sense on the voices so well in tune that are those of the Théatre-Français; I perceive it to be no less written, in the immortality of
the brochure. No surprise that I hadn't tasted it beforehand, nor disappointment: but an amateur's delight to see that an almost abstract accuracy, or simply literary in the old sense of the word, finds a certain life at the ramp."

A charming copy in an elegant mottled paper binding.