La Peau de chagrin
The novel established Balzac as a prominent figure in the world of French literature. Publishers fought among themselves to publish his future work, and he became a mainstay on the list of invitation for social functions around Paris. Balzac took pride in his novel's success, and declared to the editor of the journal "L'Avenir" that "Elle est donc le "point de départ" de mon ouvrage" ("This is the "point of departure" for my body of work"). Consistently popular even after his death, "La Peau de chagrin" was republished nineteen times between 1850 and 1880.