BALZAC Honoré de. A daughter of Eve. Scène de la vie privée. Paris, Hippolyte Souverain, 1839; 2 vol.in-8 of [4]-333-[2] pp. ; [4]-303-[1] pp. half brown calf, smooth spines decorated with gilt and cold fillets (Honnelaître). First edition. It contains the important preface, which will not be reprinted later, in which Balzac explains the characteristics of Scènes de la vie privée, with its gentler emotions and less tumultuous experiences than the accounts of La Vie parisienne. Massimilla Doni, a short Venetian novel, follows. A very good copy bound by Claude Honnelaître in the style of the 1830s; spine lightened.