The Style Bible
Honoré de Balzac: A Treatise on Elegant Living
The turn of the 19th century was a period of great change for Western Europe, encompassing revolutions political and
sartorial. It was against this background that the novelist Honoré de Balzac
wrote A Treatise on Elegant Living.
Predating scandalous poet Charles Baudelaire’s essay “The Dandy” by decades,
the work set out to define a man whose refined intellectualism was reflected
both in his speech and his immaculate personal appearance. Now translated into
English for the first time courtesy of independent publishers Wakefield Press,
the tome issues instructions on dandyism via a series of waspish aphorisms such
as: “A rip is a misfortune, a stain is a vice.” Naturally, it’s essential
reading for any serious man-about-town.
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Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), daguerrotype, c. 1845 Photo by Louis Auguste Bisson, © APIC
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