UZANNE, Octave (1852-1931). Autograph manuscript short story in French, titled "Histoire de Momies Recits authentiques", signed at the foot of the final page[N.p. but ?Paris: 1895 or earlier]. 12pp., recto only of 12 sheets (277 x 220 mm), in black ink, with occasional underlings and altereations, the first page cut down and then extended by the pasting on of an additional part leaf, pages numbers added in printer's blue crayon. Unbound within a later green paper-covered portfolio. Condition: some soiling and occasional printer's finger marks. [With:] a 16pp. copy typescript translation, "History of the Mummies", of the above manuscript. the original fair manuscript, as given to the printers, of a pair of linked short stories by an important fin-de-siecle literary figure: the first concerning the mummification of the head of a brave and noble French soldier, the second recounting the fate of an impetuous adenturerer into an Egyptian tomb. These were apparently first published in Uzanne and Albert Robida's Contes pour les Bibliophiles (Paris, Librairies-imprimeries réunies,1895). However, it is possible that they had appeared earlier: Uzanne's story of a world without books ("La fin des livres") is included here, but had been published previously in the periodical Le Livre in 1880.

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