Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant, with an introduction by Arthur Symons, published by W Heinemann, London 1899. The first English edition. 92 pages. Size 25.5 by 18.5 cm. In stiff red card boards with yapp or slightly rounded edges and with a later black cloth spine. This edition features 56 wood engravings from drawings by F Thevenot, including one of Boule, described by de Maupassant as “one of the so-called ‘gay’ sisterhood…noted for her precocious stoutness, which had gained her the nickname of ‘Boule de Suif’-‘ ball of fat’. She was a little roly-poly creature.” Slight scuffing to corners of the boards but otherwise VG condition.