Alphonse DAUDET (1840-1897) Autograph manuscript, Les Absents, comedy in one act in prose, [1863]; oblong notebook of 42 leaves (17 x 21 cm) (edges a bit frayed on the 1st and last leaf). Working manuscript of the first version of this theatrical prose. Rejected by the Comédie Française, this act, which takes place "at the gates of a small village in Provence", was reworked for the Opéra-Comique, where it was premiered on October 26, 1863 and set to music by Fernand Poise, with the tenor Victor Capoul. The manuscript includes scenes I to XII (the last three are missing). In a small tight handwriting on the front of oblong sheets of lined paper, it presents numerous erasures in red pencil, and corrections. Daudet has notably crossed out the characteristics of the characters: thus for Dame Brigitte: "short, lively, red-faced, carried away, apoplectic"; her daughter Suzette: naïve, a little namby-pamby, slight defect of language", etc.