Eugenie Grandet ~ buy Honore de Balzac ~ 1998, Easton Press, Famous Editions, Illustrated, Black Leather ~ As New

Eugenie Garndet

By Honore De Balzac

Translated from the French by Ellen Marriage

Introduction by Richard Aldington

Illustrated by Rene ben Sussan

The Collector's Library of Famous Editions

Bound in Genuine Leather

1998, The Easton Press, Norwalk, Connecticut

Sewn binding. Black leather over boards with gilt decoration on front and back and design and lettering on spine. Integral ribbon marker sewn in. Five spine hubs. All edges of leaves gilt. buy Moiré endpapers. 10.25", 271 pages, author's dedication, contents, introduction, publisher's preface, illustrations, separate Notes 'From The Archives' pamphlet

As New condition. A solid, clean copy. Ribbon marker appears undisturbed.

Contents

*In the original French edition Balzac divided his story into six Chapters and a Conclusion; but in the second French edition the text was printed without a break except for the Conclusion - a plan which Balzac much disliked but was seemingly powerless to prevent. Previous English editions have followed the French second edition; but here Balza's own chapter divisions and titles are restored.

* Introduction: p. ix
* The Bourgeois Face: p. I
* The Cousin from Paris: p.49
* Provincial Love: p. 76
* Two Promises: p. 126
* Family Vexations: p. 188
* The Way of the World: p. 238
* Conclusion: p. 267

From the 'Notes From The Archives' pamphlet:

Alexandre Dumas, with about three hundred volumes to his credit, may head the list of the most prolific French authors; but Honore' de Balzac, born just three years before Dumas, must take top honors because of the breadth of his interest, because he was a founder of the realistic school of French literature, and because in twenty years of creative labor he produced the more than ninety novels and tales constituting 'La Comedie Humanine' ("The Human Comedy").

I was an attempt to present a complete social history of France in a thorough and scientific manner. (We must keep in mind that he used "Comedy
in the sense that Dante had used the word five hundred years earlier in the title of this 'Divine Comedy' - for a serious work portraying truth or life without leaving a painful or tragic impression).

'Eugenie Grandet' is generally considered one of the best novels in the entire opus. Set in Saumur, a small town in western France, the novel poignantly yet relentlessly portrays a loathsome father whose greed warps his own personality. He interferes with his daughter's romance and in general makes his family's lives miserable. Eugenie and her father are among Balzac's most successful creations.

...

For 'Eugenie Grandet' we have used the splendid version by Ellen Marriage, whose translations of Balzac have deservedly become the standard. The introduction was contributed by Richard Aldington (1892-1962), the English poet, novelist, and biographer of Lawrence of Arabia.

BEP