BALZAC (Honoré de). Eugénie Grandet. Paris: Motteroz for Les Amis des livres, 1883. - In-8, 243 x 157 : 345 pp, (6 ff. last blank), 8 plates, printed cover. Red morocco, double framed with seven gilt fillets on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated in the same style, dark green morocco lining decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, dark green moiré silk endpapers, double endpapers, gilt edges on witnesses, cover and spine preserved, edged slipcase (Mercier sr de Cuzin). First illustrated edition, with 8 out-of-text compositions by Pascal Adolphe Jean DAGNAN-BOUVERET (1852-1929), a renowned painter and pupil of Gérôme and Corot, etched by M. Le Rat. Limited edition of only 120 copies on wove paper. This one, numbered 69, is one of 100 nominative copies, specially printed for Mr Albert Pascal. It contains two states of the etchings: pure etching and the final state on chine appliqué. A precious copy in a lined binding by Mercier, produced for Arthur Meyer (1844-1924), founder and director of Le Gaulois, who became an eminent bibliophile, keen to fill the copies in his library with autographs and original drawings. This one has been filled with these three precious items: - ORIGINAL DRAWING BY DAGNAN-BOUVERET (203 x 135), in pencil with white highlights, on blue paper pasted on wove paper, depicting Eugénie Grandet after reading her cousin's letter, dedicated "to Monsieur Arthur Meyer" and signed by the artist. - AUTOGRAPHIC LETTER SIGNED BY HONORÉ DE BALZAC, 1 page 3/4 in-8, undated, addressed to the journalist Louis Desnoyers (1802-1868), founder of the Société des gens de lettres: "My dear Desnoyers, as for the mistakes in French which escape us all in general and which often escape me enormously in particular, because the more one writes the more chances one has of making them, there can be no doubt about the need for you to remove them. This is what professionals do, and I do not wish to equate your august duties with those of a more humble protector...". - AUTOGRAPHIC LETTER SIGNED BY VICTOR HUGO TO HONORÉ DE BALZAC, 2 pages in-12, Friday 6 March: "You don't need me. - Who knows and who says things better than you? What can I add to a thought like yours? A very fine copy. Provenance: Albert Pascal. - Arthur Meyer, with ex-libris and his mark at the bottom of the spine (sale 1924, n° 166).