JOSZ (Virgile) [Écrits de jeunesse]. 8-page notebook, black half-basin with corners, smooth spine, gilt edges over marbling. Partly autograph notebook belonging to Virgile Josz (1859-1904), playwright and novelist. Given by his grandfather in September 1876 (note in red on first page), this notebook was gradually filled over the years with autograph poems, articles and feuilletons. It comprises 84 sheets in all. Sixteen pages contain autograph poems and songs, dated from October 1876 to April 1881. On the remaining pages, the author has pasted his first articles and feuilletons, published between June 1877 and April 1887. These include articles from "Le Moniteur de l'Oise", where he wrote under the pseudonym Maro, as well as from "Le Gaulois" and "Le Paris Journal", signed as Jean Raisin or Jean Rus, not forgetting his contribution to "L'Art et la mode". The collection ends with the first eleven feuilletons of his novel "Hans Will", with the exception of the seventh, published in "Le Gaulois" from March 24 to April 6, 1887. This novel represents the author's first work, to be published by Dentu in 1888. The copy is enriched separately with 3 autograph poems on 3 in-8 leaves, an autograph visiting card, and 6 autograph letters signed by publishers addressed to Josz, in which he is refused his works, notably "Hans Will", by Paul Ollendorff and by Le Gaulois, which nevertheless eventually accepted. The other letters are from Lemerre, "La Vie parisienne", the "Revue contemporaine" and the "Revue illustrée". Precious testimony to this writer's literary beginnings. Enclosed: - JOSZ (Virgile). Une sérénade. Drama in one act. Paris : E. Dentu, [1895]. - In-18, blue half-chagrin with corners, gilt fillets, spine ribbed and decorated, gilt head, untrimmed, cover preserved (H. Otto). First edition printed on fine laid paper. Autograph signed letter from the author on the false title, addressed to the industrialist Frédéric Seillière (1839-1899): "à Monsieur le Baron // F. Seillière // Bien respectoire. Seillière // Most respectfully // His most obliged // Virgile Josz." Heavy foxing on pages 40-45, caused by a plant that was inserted between pages 42-43.