Paul Hervieu (1857-1915), French novelist and playwright - Autograph letter signed to a lady explaining his illness and meeting - dated June 24, 1895. Hervieu was admitted to the bar in 1877, and after a period in the office of the President of the Chamber, he qualified for the diplomatic service, but resigned when he was nominated in 1881 for the post of secretary at the French Embassy in Mexico. He contributed novels, stories, and articles to the most prominent Parisian newspapers and magazines, and published a series of intelligent novels, including "L'Inconnue" (1887), "La Mirliton" (1890, illustrated by Madeleine Lemaire), "L'Ensorcelée" (1891), "Croquis Parisiens" (1893), a satirical study written in the form of letters, and "La Loi" (1895), which Eugène Brieux adapted into a play in 1905. Hervieu's plays are based on a strict logical method, to the point that the mechanism of this method is sometimes so obvious that it deprives the work of its sense of illusion. The concluding words of the play "La Course du Flambeau" (1901), "For my daughter, I killed my mother," are an example of his choice of a plot that represents an extreme theory. However, the mystery in the play "Le Vicomte" (1901) (which was performed at Wyndham's Theatre in London on March 1, 1902, under the name "Caesar's Wife") was solved with superior artistic skill, and the play "La Course du Flambeau" (1903), which deals with the obstacles to the marriage of a divorced woman, is considered one of the masterpieces of modern French theater. He presented his last play, "Le Destin est Maître," in 1914. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1900. Please DM for inquiries. You can check my page for similar ads for rarities and heritage.