La Comédie Humaine, 'Scenes of Parisian Life', (Eleven Volumes), Illustrated by Frédéric-Emile Jeannin and Ricardo de los Rios, Pub. Leonard Smithers, 1897
£650.00
notes
With this edition comprising the first collected ‘Scenes of Parisian Life’ in English translation, 'La Comédie Humaine' this was Honoré de Balzac’s pioneering multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French life and society in the period of both the Restoration (1815-1830) and the July Monarchy (1830-1848).
Features
notes
With this edition comprising the first collected ‘Scenes of Parisian Life’ in English translation, 'La Comédie Humaine' this was Honoré de Balzac’s pioneering multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French life and society in the period of both the Restoration (1815-1830) and the July Monarchy (1830-1848).
Details & Care
- Limited edition, No. 8/50
- Pub. Leonard Smithers, 1897
- Each volume features gilt decoration to front and back covers, as well as gilt decoration to the spine, and is printed on Imperial Japan paper.
- The illustrations by Jeannin and de los Rios are featured throughout each volume and take the form of etchings reproduced from paintings by Gaston Bussière. Each of these is accompanied by a tipped-in tissue guard featuring a matching quotation from Balzac’s writings.
- Hard cover
- 11 volumes
- Illustrated
Condition
The entire collection is in good condition: there are signs of shelf wear to the spines, and some spotting and blotching to the front and back covers of the volumes, and the uncut pages demonstrate some browning, but inside each volume the paper is bright and highly readable; the etchings are also pristine and clear. Some annotations to front pages of the first and tenth volumes; the rest otherwise clean. (Purchased at auction from the library of Barry Humphries).
Glossary
