Honoré de BALZAC

Autograph letter signed and dated "20 floréal year 79 19 May" [19 May 1871?], 3 pages on a bifolium of blue paper. Small lack of paper affecting a few letters, usual folds from mailing.

Rare letter by painter and illustrator Gérard-Séguin, known for his portrait of Honoré de Balzac (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours). Written in the midst of the Paris Commune, as famine and fighting ravaged the capital, the artist delivers a desperate yet spirited plea from the artist.

This letter is one of the few surviving manuscripts by Gérard-Séguin whose biography remains largely unknown: "Little is known about the life and work of Jean...

Autograph letter signed by Honoré de Balzac to Gustave Silbermann, dated 18 May [1846], with the blind stamp of the Hôtel des Trois Rois in Basel. A delicate document, with fold marks that have caused some tears with some minute lacks of paper, affecting a few letters, including the last two letters of the author's signature.
A fine epistolary testament to Balzac's unrestrained passion for art collecting, in this likely unpublished letter addressed to his friend, the Strasbourg bookseller and printer Gustave Silbermann. Balzac was planning a stay in Strasbourg, during which he became engaged to Madame Hanska.

Autograph letter signed by Honoré de Balzac to Sophie Koslowska. 4 pages in black ink on a bifolium.

Usual folds. Very small lacks of paper along the horizontal fold of the first leaf. Published in his Correspondance 1819-1850, II. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1875, pp. 31-33.

A long, feverish letter by Balzac, a few days before the premiere of Les Ressources de Quinola at the Odéon theater. The writer writes to his close friend Sophie Kozlowska, daughter of Prince Kozlowski about the chaotic fi­nal preparations, and urges her to fill the theater with all of Paris's Russian high society.

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Autograph letter signed by Honoré de Balzac, addressed to his friend, the writer Charles de Bernard. One page written in black ink on a bifolium. On the verso of the second leaf appears the address of the recipient [Charles de Bernard du Grail], written in Balzac’s hand, along with postal stamps and the seal bearing the arms of the Balzac d’Entraigues family, which the author had appropriated.

A few minor holes not affecting the text; fold marks as usual from mailing.

First edition, superbly illustrated with 200 full-page plates and 120 in-text vignettes by Grandville. Second-issue printing, with the errors corrected. It may be identified by the fact that, in the first issue, the opening third of the volume was printed on tinted wove paper, whereas this second issue was entirely printed on uniform white paper; the frontispiece no longer bears the title Badigeneographie but instead Des affiches seront, d'après ses ordres....
Publisher's original full green ribbed percaline binding, decorated with special blocking tools commissioned by Hetzel specifically for this edition. Smooth spine stamped with tortoise, butterfly and beetle...

New printing of the author's works issued by Alexandre Houssiaux, who had acquired the Furne publishing stock under which the works had originally appeared. He expanded the set with three additional volumes (Theatre, Contes drolatiques, etc.), published here for the first time.
Bound in red half shagreen, spines with four raised bands ruled in gilt and richly gilt-panelled, a few minor scuffs to some spines, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

A few light foxing spots, as usual.

Illustrated with 125 plates hors texte by the leading artists of the period, including Bertall, Daumier, Gavarni, Johannot, Meissonier and Nanteuil, together with rare...

"My dear director, under the terms of our agreements, I am ready to read, I have chosen tomorrow, Wednesday, and I have told your stage manager the names of the actors to whom I entrust our play. I've done a bit of your job, I've conquered Madame Dorval who will make you rich, I'll bring her myself. Find here, my dear d'Épagny, a thousand regards, I have given you proof of our old...

Very rare and highly sought-after first edition of Balzac's first novel signed by his name. Published a small number of copies, this first novel whose original title is inspired by the last of the Mohicans James Cooper, reappeared, reworked in 1834 under a new title: The Chouans .
This first important work of Balzac also marks the beginning of the comedy Humaine which she constitura since 1845 a scene of the military life .
Bindings in half red Russian leather, smooth backs adorned with gilt and black threads, gold friezes in heads and tails, marbled paper plates, Contemporary binding.
A restored bit and a flap sheet of the first volume changed, some...

Rare and highly sought-after first edition (...) of which only a portion of the copies contains a preface (cf. Clouzot). The important account of the lawsuit concerning The Lily of the Valley that precedes the novel was not retained in subsequent editions and is often lacking in a number of the copies published by Werdet.

Copy complete with both the preface and the account of the lawsuit that opposed Balzac to the publisher François Buloz. Contemporary half green sheepskin bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt romantic typographical motifs, gilt fillets at heads and tails, marbled paper boards, paste paper endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges...

First definitive editions, partly original.
Bound in red half-shagreen with corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind-stamped panels and fillets, the entwined monogram of Jules Hetzel at the foot, uncut copy, contemporary binding.
A few occasional spots of foxing.
Inscribed by the author to Jules Hetzel, “as a token of the author’s friendship.”

In the 1840s, Balzac “contributed to a collective volume illustrated with Grandville’s vignettes, Scènes...

First edition of these three well-illustrated physiologies; for example, the first physiology contains 65 vignettes. Only the Physiologie du flaneur bears a date.
Physiologie du flaneur. Vignettes by Alophe, Daumier and Maurisset.
Physiologie de l'employé. Vignettes by Trimollet.
Physiologie de la femme la plus malheureuse... Vignettes by Valentin.
Contemporary half black sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with fillets. Gilt titles. Rubbing. Occasional light foxing, on paper that has remained quite white.

The rare first edition.

Half caramel morocco, spine in five compartments, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, restored wrappers preserved, marbled edges.
Foxed.

With an important autograph inscription signed by Honoré de Balzac to his friend Laurent-Jan, to whom Vautrin was dedicated, and the model for Bixiou, Léon de Lora and several other characters in The Human Comedy.
He was at the same time Balzac's best friend, trusted secretary, ghost writer and perhaps even… “beloved.”
“…the singular phenomenon of the inventor who moved, in 16^th century Barcelona, a vessel by steam past three hundred thousand spectators; that today...

First so-called popular edition of these illustrated works by Balzac. The copy we offer here includes both volumes of the early works, which are almost always lacking. Printed in double columns. Richly illustrated with wood engravings by Daumier, Johannot, Beaucé, Nanteuil, Andrieux... The works are bound two volumes per tome, each with its own title page and half-title. However, none of the title pages indicate volume numbers; the sequence follows the original serialized issues. The two volumes of the early works are bound in volume V. The complete theatre is located at the end of the fourth volume. This edition was reissued by Michel Lévy in 1867, who had acquired the backlist from the...

Belgian counterfeit edition published the same year as the original.

A few occasional spots of foxing; a peddler’s stamp to the lower left corner of the half-title page.

Contemporary-style binding in burgundy Russian morocco over marbled paper boards, smooth spine richly gilt with decorative rolls and floral tools, minor rubbing to joints without loss, pebble-grain endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, gilt top edge. A handsome pastiche in the Romantic style.

A well-preserved copy, attractively bound in a fine Romantic pastiche.

First edition, illustrated with in-text drawings by Lorentz.

Some occasional foxing.

Bradel binding in green Empire morocco, spine very slightly faded, gilt date at foot, gilt decorative rolls at head and foot, marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate mounted on one endpaper, trace of a removed bookplate at the head of a pastedown. Original wrappers preserved. Binding signed by Durvand.

A new printing of the works issued by Houssiaux, who had acquired the Furne publishing stock under which the works were originally released. He expanded the series with three additional volumes (Théâtre, Contes drolatiques, etc.), which appeared for the first time within the collected works in 1855. The edition was entirely reprinted in 1855. Most volumes bear the date 1863.

Contemporary half shagreen bindings in brown, spines with five raised bands, decorated with four blind-stamped fleurons within compartments. Author, title and volume numbering gilt. Scattered foxing. One volume with the paper boards renewed. Signs of rubbing.

The set is illustrated with 138 plates...

Reprint of the works by Houssiaux, who had purchased the stock of the Furne bookshop, where Honoré de Balzac's works were originally published.
Houssiaux completed them with three new volumes (Theatre, Contes drôlatiques...) which appear here for the first time in the collected works in 1855.
Some foxing.
Bound in half green shagreen with corners, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt typographical motifs, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of handmade paper.
Work illustrated with 143 plates on tinted heavy paper, by the finest artists of the period including Bertall, Daumier, Gavarni, Johannot, Nanteuil as well as rare illustrations within the text and...