Fabulous handwritten manuscript, unsigned, one page both sides, 9.5 x 14.25, no date but circa 1832–1833. A page from Cooper’s manuscript for The Headsman, or the Abbaye of Vigneron. The present manuscript, which covers the content found from pages 159 to 166 of the 1833 Paris edition, and contains a conversation between the future baroness Adelheid de Willading and the commoner Sigismund Steinbach. Encapsulated in a Mylar sleeve. Heavy overall staining and soiling, several large repaired tears, and repaired paper loss to a few small areas, otherwise very good condition. This excerpt features the novel’s two leading characters: Adelheid, the beautiful daughter of Melchior, Baron de Willading, and Sigismund, secret son of the headsman Balthazar, and if discovered, heir to the dreaded position of public executioner. Cooper deftly weaves the tale of this pair, desperately in love but unable to marry because of their vastly different social stations, to provide an insightful sociopolitical critique of the gruesome hereditary position. A rare and fantastic fragment. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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