Honore de Balzac — Ten Droll Tales

London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1926. First edition. Cloth. An excellent copy of Honore de Balzac's famous short story collection. Illustrated throughout by the famous Belgian painter Jean de Bosschere. The first edition of these tales illustrated by Jean de Bosschere. With a frontispiece and twenty-three plates. Bosschere was renowned for his lavish and erotic colour plates, with their stunning use of saturated plates. His style complements the themes of the droll tales, or the 'contes drolatiques&apos. The Droll stories are Rabelaisian in theme, and are a pastiche of 16th century language. Comprising all ten tales. Collated, complete.  Translated into English by J Lewis May, with an introduction by andre Maurois. Limited edition, numbered 478 of 3000 copies produced. A fantastic copy of this work. A truly brilliant example of Jean de Bosshere's striking illustrations. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Externally, excellent with minor shelfwear. Spine is slightly sunned. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright. Minor offsetting to the endpapers. Pages are otherwise clean. Near Fine . Ill.: Jean de Bosshere. Near Fine .