Collective (including Balzac, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Janin, Mé - Lot 496

Collective (including Balzac, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Janin, Mérimée, J-B Say, Thiers...), Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture - complet en 104 livraisons. Paris, Belin-Mandar, 1832-1839. 52 volumes in 104 in-8 issues, approx. 25,000 pages in all. First edition of this large-scale work, in which over a hundred writers of the time took part, including Chateaubriand, Guizot, Victor Hugo, Jules Janin, Mérimée, Sainte-Beuve, George Sand, etc. Balzac was responsible for the entries on the last six kings of France, whose first name was Louis. William Duckett, the publisher, is very angry at the "encyclopedia" spirit of the previous century, which he believes is responsible for errors and prejudices that are passed down from generation to generation. "These kinds of books (encyclopedias, the word for which is never uttered in the preface), when they have not been compilations made without taste or discernment, and with a purely mercantile aim (here Panckoucke and Beaumarchais are singled out), have always been composed in the interest or with the views of some political, literary or religious coterie, for whom truth has never been more than of secondary importance" (here d'Alembert and Diderot are singled out). From then on, this work was to be, "in the midst of this chaos of passions, errors and prejudices, a surer guide than any that has yet been offered to the public". Paperback, volumes as issued, usual minor defects. Very rare, complete and in livery.