The Life Work of Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant. Embracing Romance. Travel. Comedy & Verse. For the first time Complete in English. With a Critical Preface by George Bourget of the French Academy and an Introduction by Robert Arnot M.A.

MAUPASSANT, Henri René Albert Guy de.

Item Number: 123801

London and New York: M. Walter Dunne, Publisher, 1903.

The Flaubert edition of the complete works of Guy de Maupassant, including his well-known short stories and novels Boule de Suif, Une Vie, Bel-Ami, and Pierre et Jean. Octavo, 17 volumes bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards with git titles and botanical tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt with others untrimmed, pictorial title page and lettered tissue-guarded frontispiece in color to each volume, illustrated from original drawings by eminent French and American artists. One of 500 numbered sets signed by Robert Arnot, this is number 77. With a critical preface by George Bourget of the French Academy and an introduction by Robert Arnot M.A. In near fine condition.

Nineteenth century French author Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant is remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives and destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms. Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. Maupassant's second novel Bel-Ami chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor former cavalry NCO in France's African colonies, to one of the most successful men in Paris, most of which he achieves by manipulating a series of powerful, intelligent, and wealthy women. It has been adapted for film and television several times.