Honoré de Balzac, Le Comte Chabert [in] Le Salmigondis. - Lot 14

Honoré de Balzac, Le Comte Chabert [in] Le Salmigondis. Paris, Victor Magen, 1835. In-8, VIII-428p. Complete second edition of this text, which was published in the magazine L'Artiste in February and March 1832 (in 4 issues) and covers here the first 93 pages. It is of particular interest as the first draft of what was to become Colonel Chabert. The manuscript, which Balzac had offered to Zulma Carraud, has only been partially preserved and found. A large section corresponding to the first three parts of L'Artiste and the beginning of the fourth is missing. In early 1832, Balzac had concluded an agreement with Ricour, who published the text in his magazine under the title La Transaction, before selling the rights to Fournier jeune, who titled it Le Comte Chabert and published it at the head of Le Salmigondis in 1832. Planned for 12 volumes, this collective collection seems to have had only 2. Magen reprinted it in 1835. Note that the last text in the volume is by Sands (sic!), L'île en fleurs, a text that George Sand disavowed. Provenance: Cabinet de lecture of J. Pichon, bookseller in Le Mans, with his label on the endpaper, his repeated stamp and his repeated signature. Modest half-basane, spine missing, paper on boards worn, foxing, tear on fol. 83-84.