Description

FIRST EDITION.
ONE OF THE VERY FEW COPIES OF THE "GOOD SHEETS" PUBLISHED BEFORE THE PUBLIC EDITION AND SENT TO THE PRESS.
It contains the scandalous chapter on Balzac's death that was expunged from most copies of the original edition: it involved Madame Hanska, the writer's second wife, and her lover, the painter Jean Gigoux, from whom Mirbeau got the anecdote. Anna Mnizesch, daughter of Balzac's widow, learned of the publication in the pages of the Time In a letter to the newspaper, she protested against these "calumnies". Mirbeau agreed to their withdrawal and, while reiterating the veracity of the story, declared that he did not wish to distress the last years of an old woman who had retired to a convent.

Bel exemplaire en maroquin doublé provenant de la luxueuse bibliothèque Charles Exbrayat, auteur de nombreux romans policiers à succès et fin bibliophile.