As a complement to the rare or precious editions in the heritage collection, the general collection assembles current editions of Balzac’s and Gautier’s works, notably:
- Critical editions, - Editions for children (including scholastic editions) and comic books,
- Translations of the works, as the number and variety of languages reflects Balzac’s renown as the best known French writer abroad.
This collection also includes:
- Studies of Balzac or Gautier (including scholarly works),
- Studies relating to the art or literature of the romantic period and more generally of the nineteenth century in France,
- Articles from recent periodicals.
Several tools can aid research in these collections, including:
- Library portal: The Maison de Balzac library is part of a network of specialized libraries of the City of Pairs. It is thus included in the collective catalogue of these libraries. An advanced search allows the selection of documents held at the Maison de Balzac. The catalogue marks the entirety of documents held at the library, whether they belong to the heritage collection or to the general collection.
- The database: the library gives access to the electronic version of two reference tools:
- Le Vocabulaire de Balzac, established by Professor Kawuo Kiriu, compiles all occurrences of terms (including proper nouns) that appear in the complete works and the postal correspondance of Balzac.
- The critical edition of the first edition of The Human Comedy, realized by the Groupe International de Recherches Balzaciennes, the Maison de Balzac and the group ARTFL of the University of Chicago, which gives access to the complete texte online and notably supplies for each novel detailed explanatory notes.