BALZAC Honoré de (1799-1850)

Lot 74
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4000 - 5000 EUR
BALZAC Honoré de (1799-1850)
L.A.S. "de Balzac", October 8 [1831], to the lithographer-printer Charles MOTTE; 2 pages in-8, address (central fold of the split sheet). Nice letter accompanying the dispatch of Romans et contes philosophiques. "My dear Monsieur Motte, I have not lost the memory of the obligations I have contracted towards you. You have given me charming lithographs and I promise to write articles for you. They have not been made, and such conduct would be a kind of indelicacy far removed from my character; but Fashion has changed masters in those days; I have fallen out with Tems; and the opportunities to serve you have not fulfilled my desire for them. This is the story of my apparent lack of care; perdonate mi". He did not dare to ask the price of the album (of lithographs) he received from Motte: "will you allow me to offer you an exchange of our productions; an exchange in which you will lose; but at least with the tems, the quantity of my products will perhaps end up being equivalent to the quality of yours and my conscience will be clearer. Now let me add seriously that I offer you my book as a testimony of our old neighborhood, and as a mark of deep esteem for you who are not the least artist among those whose works you translate" . [Motte had his studio on rue des Marais-Saint-Germain (now rue Visconti), where Balzac also had his printing house, from 1826 to 1828]. Balzac adds as a postscript: "It goes without saying that as soon as I can be of use to you from a journalistic position, all you have to do is ask. For the time being, I would be able to help the Artist and I have friends in the Messenger". Correspondance (Bibl. de la Pléiade), t. I, p. 413, n° 31-103
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