Honoré de BALZAC.

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Honoré de BALZAC.
Intellectual history of Louis Lambert. Paris, Charles Gosselin, 1833. In-12, 264 pp. half red morocco, spine ribbed and decorated, untrimmed, gilt head (binding of the second half of the 19th century). First separate edition, largely original. Not only has the text been reworked, but it has been enlarged. The volume has become rare: dissatisfied, Balzac bought back as many copies as he could and had them removed. In 1835, he deplored "the defective edition which, for my misfortune, runs around the world in a desolate state of imperfection" (Correspondance, II, no. 932). One of 12 copies on strong salmon-coloured wove paper. Thanks to the invoice addressed to Balzac on February 20, 1833, preserved in the Lovenjoul collection, we know that these twelve copies were bound in hardback by Wagner & Spachmann. (Balzac imprimeur et défenseur du livre, 1995, p. 136.) In addition, two copies were printed on China paper, also bound by Wagner & Spachmann: one in half morocco, which was given to Madame Hanska, the other in green velvet, which was given to Zulma Carraud, but both without a handwritten letter from the author. Precious autograph letter signed on a white paper sheet mounted at the head: offered to M. Surville by his brother Honoré Under the sending, this note written by one of the grandchildren of Laure Surville: To Monsieur [?] in memory of a niece of Balzac who had a great affection for him. July 3, 1877. This is probably one of the children of Sophie Surville, wife Mallet, who died in 1877. Louis Midy de la Greneraye dit Surville (1790-1867) married Laure, the favourite sister of the novelist in 1820. An engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, he was very close to his brother-in-law who dedicated La Vieille Fille to him and took him as a model for the engineer Grégoire Gérard in Le Curé de village. Of the dozen or so copies printed on large salmon paper, only a handful have been located. The copies of Victor Ratier, former director of La Silhouette, with a signed autograph (Exposition Balzac, Pierre Berès, No. 255 - Private collection); that of Eugène Sue with a signed autograph "to the dear captain of the Salamander" (Jacques Guérin, 1985, No. 4 - Private collection) and the copy offered by Balzac to George Sand (Exposition Balzac, Pierre Berès, No. 254 - Pierre Bergé collection) are known. A fourth copy, in hardback, has appeared in recent years.
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