DUMAS ALEXANDRE: Fils (1824-1895) French author and playwright. Rare manuscript draft signed ...

DUMAS ALEXANDRE: Fils (1824-1895) French author and playwright. Rare manuscript draft signed `A. Dumas f.´, seven pages, to seven different sheets, folio, n.p., n.d. [c.1883], in French. The manuscript, in Dumas´ hand, is a draft of an article written after the terrible Ischia earthquake which occured on 28th July 1883. The lengthy seven full pages article contains multiple corrections, amendments, crossed words and sentences, all in Dumas´ hand Annotated to the heading that the article is addressed to `Monsieur Hubert, délégué de la presse française´ ("To Monsieur Hubert, Delegate of the French press"). A poignant account of the drama occured in the island of Ischia by Dumas, including his thoughts, and stating in part `Vous me demandez quelques lignes pour le numéro spécial que vous voulez consacrer à la catastrophe d´Ischia. Ce n´est ni l´émotion causée par tant de désastres ni la sympathie due à tant de victimes, qui me manquent. C´est l´expression quand la mort parle aussi haut, toute forme littéraire me parait vide et inutile. L´annonce laconique de l´évènement, la stupeur, l´épouvante qu´il cause à chacun, et qui croissent à chaque nouveau détail, le spectacle que l´imagination se représente, sont mille fois plus éloquents que toutes les prétentions de la parole et de la phrase...´ (Translation: "You ask me for a few lines for the special issue that you want to dedicate to the Ischia catastrophe. It is neither the emotion caused by so many disasters nor the sympathy due to so many victims that I lack. It is the expression when death speaks so loudly, any literary form seems empty and useless to me. The laconic announcement of the event, the stupor, the terror that it causes to everyone, and which grow with each new detail, the spectacle that the imagination imagines, are a thousand times more eloquent than all the pretensions of speech and sentence...") Further Dumas refers to God, to the difficulty that the believers will have to understand how can such dramas be permitted by their God, stating in part `Quels sont donc les pêchés abominables, les exécrables forfaits commis par toutes ces victimes? Où est en ce moment le témoignage affirmé par tant de grandes âmes de l´équité, de la miséricorde de ce Dieu révélé? Que les Divinités du vieil Olympe aient détruit Pompei, cela pouvait se comprendre, c´étaient des Divinités temporaires et mostrueuses qui ne descendaient sur la terre que pour y chercher la débauche et y semer la corruption. Jupiter, se sentant mourir, avait peut-être besoin de l´engloutissement de deux villes et de la mort de deux peuples pour cacher ses amours....´ (Translation: "What are then the abominable sins, the execrable crimes committed by all these victims? Where is at this moment the testimony affirmed by so many great souls of the equity, of the mercy of this revealed God? That the Divinities of old Olympus destroyed Pompeii, that could be understood, they were temporary and monstrous Divinities who descended on the earth only to seek debauchery and sow corruption. Jupiter, feeling himself dying, perhaps needed the engulfment of two cities and the death of two populations to hide his loves...") Before concluding, Dumas states `En face de cet attentat de la nature et de cette équivoque complicité du Ciel, ce que les hommes ont de mieux à faire, c´est de ne pas se dépenser en vaines paroles, c´est de se rapprocher les uns des autres, de se tendre la main, de se secourir et de se préparer à ne plus compter que sur eux-mêmes. A Dumas f.´ (Translation: "Facing this attack by nature and this equivocal complicity of Heaven, the best thing for men to do is not to waste their time on vain words, but to come closer to one another, to extend a hand to one another, to help one another and to prepare to rely only on themselves. A.Dumas f.") Overall age wear, with most of the left edges pages slightly trimmed, otherwise G

The Ischia earthquake occurred on 28th July 1883. Although the earthquake had an estimated magnitudeM_w of 4.2–5.5, considered moderate in size, it caused intense ground shaking that was assigned as extreme. Between 2,300and 3,100 people lost their lives. The city also suffered great property losses, with 80 percent of all homes destroyed.This earthquake was exceptionally destructive for its magnitude mainly due to its shallow focal depth.