Les Contes Drolatiques (Droll Stories)
Paris: Société Générale de Librairie, 1855. Fifth edition. Hardcover. Large octavo. XXXI, [1], 614, [2]pp. Half morocco over marbled paper covered boards, with gold lettering on spine. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Additional engraved title. Balzac originally has planned to produce 100 Droll Stories but produced just thirty, and they appeared ten at a time. The first ten in 1832; the second ten in 1833; and the third ten in 1837. The stories are set, in time, in the sixteenth century, and in place, in Balzac’s well-loved Touraine. They recreate an era and an area; they present, altogether, a glowing, lust, gusty, brawling motion picture or series of motion pictures. While their main purpose is to amuse, the droll stories possess the subsidiary value of history, sociology, topography. It has been said of them, truthfully, that after reading them, “one could almost find one’s way about the towns and villages of Touraine unassisted by map or guide.” Doré’s 425 striking illustrations in Balzac’s 'Contes Drolatiques' are often regarded as transitional, moving him towards a more serious or higher stage of art. Spine sunned. Minor shelf wear. Text in French. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in very good condition. g+ to vg. Item #36641
Price: $275.00