Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is best known for a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comédie Humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815.

Due to his keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities. His writing influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James and Jack Kerouac, as well as important philosophers such as Friedrich Engels. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films, and they continue to inspire other writers.


Subscriber's edition, one of 100 copies on Imperial Japan Paper; 51 volumes, 8vo; illustrated with etched plates throughout in two states, both with captioned tissue-guards, handsome contemporary binding in full crushed morocco, spines gilt in compartments with raised bands, gilt lettering direct, all edges gilt, wide inner dentelles gilt, floral endpapers, fading to spine and rubbing to some spine extremities, a few mildly worn, otherwise a fine set.