The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau
by Honoré de Balzac 1799–1850
The book, and the century it came out of.
Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
A Paris perfumer decides to expand — a new line, a bigger apartment, a ball to which he invites everyone he owes — and Balzac follows the arithmetic of a small honest man’s destruction, franc by franc, with the pitiless attention he usually gave to villains. He worked nights on fifty cups of coffee a day and knew bankruptcy from the inside; he had been ruined as a printer. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Chalon, Jelgerhuis and Raspal among them.
During winter nights noise never ceases in the Rue Saint-Honore except for a short interval.
The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau, by Honoré de Balzac, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Salon & Steppe
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 264 pages
- Reading time
- about 5 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Translation
- Katharine Prescott Wormeley
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501000209
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
This book in culture: 2 versions
Most people meet a book like this one on a screen first. Here is what was made of it — and none of these is the book.
- 1911 Caesar Birotteau Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset
- 1921 Cesare Birotteau Arnaldo Frateili
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau, first published 1837, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Salon & Steppe shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785501000209, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Honoré de Balzac's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 264 pages, which is roughly about 5 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
