Description
This first attempt at a collective edition, rich in previously unpublished works and heralding the arrival of The Human Comedycan be considered as "one of the great events in literary history"..
There were 6 issues of two volumes between December 1833 and February 1837.
Balzac first proposed the Studies in 19th-century manners to Charles Gosselin, who declined. Madame Béchet bought the publication rights on 13 October 1833 for the sum of 30,000 francs. The widow Béchet thus saved Balzac by enabling him to settle a number of debts. But after 5 issues and considerable delays on the part of the author in communicating the texts, relations soured and "the atrocious widow, carping, ungrateful and insensitive". transferred his rights to Werdet on 27 January 1836.
Werdet published the sixth and final issue (volumes 7 & 8) in February 1838 and presumably bought back the stock, which he covered with a relay cover bearing his name.
It is divided into three series:
- SCÈNES DE LA VIE PRIVÉE. 4 volumes, T. I & II (1835), III (1834, relay cover): by Madame Charles-Béchet, and IV: Werdet, 1837
FIRST EDITIONS from La Fleur des pois (The marriage contract) and The Search for Absolute Time.
Third revised edition, from Sceaux Ballof Glory and misfortune (La maison du chat-qui-pelote), Vendetta, La Household Peace. Second edition of Same story (The thirty-year-old womans). - SCENES OF PROVINCIAL LIFE. 4 volumes, T. V & VI by Madame Charles-Béchet, 1835, T. VII & VIII: Werdet, 1837:
FIRST EDITIONS of theIntroduction, d'Eugénie Grandetof The abandoned woman, La Grenadière, The Illustrious Gaudissart, La Old maid andLost illusions (first part of the triptych).
Revised, corrected and sometimes reworked edition for The Message, The Singles (The parish priest of Tours), La Grande Bretèche, l'History of the Chevalier de Beauvoir, The Great of Spain.
Volumes V (Eugénie Grandet), VI, XII, are available from Mrs Charles-Bechet bookseller and not a publisher; they would therefore be first editions. - SCENES OF PARISIAN LIFE. 4 volumes, T. IX (1835), X & XI (1834), XII (1835) by Madame Charles-Béchet:
FIRST EDITIONS from The Marana, Farragus, Don't touch the axe (The Duchess of Langeais), The Girl with the Golden Eyes. First edition in bookshops of The Countess has two husbands (Colonel Chabert).
Revised, corrected and sometimes reworked edition for The virtuous woman (A Double Family), The Stock Exchange, Papa Gobseck (Gobseck), Awning profile (Women's study), Saracen, Ms Firmiani.
RARE COLLECTION PRESERVED IN ITS ORIGINAL BOOKLET.
Despite the defects mentioned, often inherent to this type of condition, the copy is solid and the paper well preserved.
References :
Stéphane Vachon, The Works and Days by Honoré de Balzac, 1833 to 1837.
Carteret Romantic I, 68ff; Clouzot 11ff; Vicaire I, 196; Lhermitte 49 (12)
Spines sunned, some loss at feet, covers dusty, cover of volume 3 partially browned, scattered spotting sometimes more pronounced.
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