Honoré de Balzac, Autograph bill signed - Promissory bill. - Lot 185

Honoré de Balzac, Autograph bill signed - Promissory bill. September 14, 1848, 1p in-8 oblong (24*10cm). "At the end of next April, I will pay to the order of M. Souverain / bookseller, the sum of five thousand three hundred and thirty-four francs / value received cash / Paris this September 14, 1848 / from Balzac / 14, rue Fortunée, quartier Baujon". Tax stamp of 3 francs, mention "Pour acquit." signed by Souverain and stamped D.H.S.. Among the countless IOUs signed by Balzac throughout his life, this one deserves special mention. This is the last loan, contracted in extremis before the departure for Wierzchownia in September 1848, Balzac's last trip, from which he would not return until twenty months later, in May 1850, finally married but only three months from his death. The lengthy negotiations to obtain this loan, as well as those to ensure its repayment, were published by Hervé Yon in an article in Courrier balzacien, N° 85 of 2001.