"'How splendid it will be if I succeed!' he said as he strode up and
down the parlour; he was too excited to remain in one place and joy
radiated from all his features. 'From now on they are welcome to call
me Balzac the tale-smith! I shall go on tranquilly squaring my stones
and enjoying in advance the amazement of all those purblind critics
when they finally discover the great structure that I am building!'"

What vital force there was in all the characters of Balzac's novels,
and how well entitled he was to boast that he was running in
competition with the whole social structure! He had not yet formulated
his conception of the Human Comedy, but he was on the road to it when
he planned to rearrange the volumes already published with others that
he had in preparation, in a series of scenes in which the
representative types of the different social classes should develop.
This was the first rough draft of his later great collected editions.
In order to carry out his plan, he had to break with his former
publishers, pay back advance royalties, and defend law-suits. His
collective edition took the general title of Studies of the Manners and
Customs of the Nineteenth Century, and was divided into Scenes of
Private Life, Scenes of Provincial Life, and Scenes of Parisian Life.
He gave the rights of publication of this collective edition first to
Madame the Widow Bechet and later to Edmond Werclet, in consideration
of the sum of twenty-seven thousand francs. This was the most
advantageous contract that he had made up to this time, and he hoped
that it would free him from all his debts, with the exception of what
he owed his mother. In addition to his previously published volumes, he
included in this edition the following new works: Eugenie Grandet, The
Illustrious Gaudissart, The Maranas, Ferragus, The Duchess of Langeais,
The Girl with the Golden Eyes, The Search for the Absolute, The
Marriage Contract, The Old Maid, and the first part of Lost Illusions.