These two stories were written at no long interval, yet, for some reason or other, Balzac did not at once unite them. /La Vieille Fille/ first appeared in November and December 1836 in the /Presse/, and was inserted next year in the /Scenes de la Vie de Province/. It had three chapter divisions. The second part did not appear all at once. Its first installment, under the general title, came out in the /Chronique de Paris/ even before the /Vieille Fille/ appeared in March 1836; the completion was not published (under the title of /Les Rivalites en Province/) till the autumn of 1838, when the /Constitutionnel/ served as its vehicle. There were eight chapter divisions in this latter. The whole of the /Cabinet/ was published in book form (with /Gambara/ to follow it) in 1839. There were some changes here; and the divisions were abolished when the whole book in 1844 entered the /Comedie/. One of the greatest mistakes which, in my humble judgment, the organizers of the /edition definitive/ have made, is their adoption of Balzac's never executed separation of the pair and deletion of the excellent joint-title /Les Rivalites/.
George Saintsbury
I
AN OLD MAID
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC
Translated By
Katharine Prescott Wormeley
DEDICATION
To Monsieur Eugene-Auguste-Georges-Louis Midy de la Greneraye
Surville, Royal Engineer of the Ponts at Chausses.
As a testimony to the affection of his brother-in-law,