Doesn’t this look like a comfy setting? Quite elegant also. Balzac would have approved.
Balzac’s Café was located in the Pump House in Toronto’s Historic Distillery District.
We must be content with a cyber café,
so pull up a chair,
grab a cup of coffee,
unless you prefer tea,
and tell us where you have spotted a reference to Balzac or his works.
The Balzac Rose
Sightings spotted
Characters quoting Balzac or his books:
Graveyard Dust by Barbara Hambly
Characters reading a Balzac book:
General:
Bloom’s Literary Guide to Paris by Mike Gerrard, edited by Harold Bloom
Bohemians of the Latin Quarter by Henry Murger
Influences:
Mentioned by a character:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A House of Gentlefolk by Ivan Turgenev (translated by Constance Garnett)
La Comedie Humaine by Balzac 
Though I’m actually reading the novels in French, I’ve been peeking at the Saintsbury introductions for some time now here. Along with the City of Paris’s “Balzac en Ligne” site, yours is my favorite. So, thank you!
One of the reasons, I believe, the Hugo on Balzac piece became No. 1 here in 2014 is that the original French version was recently chosen for one of the French national exams, the one for foreigners being tested in French. I stumbled on this little factoid somewhat randomly after looking on line for the text in French.
My reading order, by the way, is pretty simple. After starting with a “top 30” list I have from one of my old school books, I’m now just proceeding mostly sequentially through the official order, as nonsensical as that sounds. I haven’t decided what to do with the two “fake” books, the Deputy from Arcis and the Bourgeois, both of which were mostly written telepathically by Balzac after he was already dead. Clever trick, wouldn’t you say?
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Happy to see another fan enjoying our work! Ha, yes, Balzac was a clever dude.
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I have a copy of this book (#78 out of 100 printed versions for america) Tour edition – published by Dent, London and The Gebbie Publishing Co., Philadelphia, PA – translated by Clara Bell, etchings by Symington, preface by Saintsbury. Trying to find its value but showing up nowhere. Can you direct me to such.
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All I can suggest is looking on eBay, Alibris ( http://www.alibris.com/books ) and such sites. Don’t expect a lot. Even though they’re old, they seem to be rather common. Good luck.
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