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The Firm of Nucingen

Chapter 4: ADDENDUM
By Honoré de Balzac
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About This Book

A satirical addendum stages a private dinner in which a circle of urbane, caustic acquaintances unpack the rise and workings of a powerful banking firm. One raconteur delivers an extended monologue that narrates schemes of speculation, manipulation of markets and public opinion, social climbing, and marriages used as financial instruments, while the others comment with irony. The scene blends vivid anecdote and social analysis to expose how money shapes reputations, institutions, and personal morals, offering a compact panorama of speculative finance and the social mechanisms that enable and justify ruthless commercial ambition.





ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

     Aiglemont, General, Marquis Victor d’
       At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
       A Woman of Thirty

     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Ball at Sceaux

     Bidault (known as Gigonnet)
       The Government Clerks
       Gobseck
       The Vendetta
       Cesar Birotteau
       A Daughter of Eve

     Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
       The Purse
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       The Government Clerks
       Modeste Mignon
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       The Muse of the Department
       Cousin Betty
       The Member for Arcis
       Beatrix
       A Man of Business
       Gaudissart II.
       The Unconscious Humorists
       Cousin Pons

     Blondet, Emile
       Jealousies of a Country Town
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Modeste Mignon
       Another Study of Woman
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Peasantry

     Claparon, Charles
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Cesar Birotteau
       Melmoth Reconciled
       A Man of Business
       The Middle Classes

     Cochin, Emile-Louis-Lucien-Emmanuel
       Cesar Birotteau
       The Government Clerks
        The Middle Classes

     Cochin, Adolphe
       Cesar Birotteau

     Cointet, Boniface
       Lost Illusions
       The Member for Arcis

     Couture
       Beatrix
       The Middle Classes

     Desroches (son)
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Colonel Chabert
       A Start in Life
       A Woman of Thirty
       The Commission in Lunacy
       The Government Clerks
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       A Man of Business
       The Middle Classes

     Falleix, Martin
       The Government Clerks

     Finot, Andoche
       Cesar Birotteau
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       The Government Clerks
       A Start in Life
       Gaudissart the Great

     Gobseck, Esther Van
       Gobseck
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

     Grandet, Victor-Ange-Guillaume
       Eugenie Grandet

     Grandet, Charles
       Eugenie Grandet

     Matifat (wealthy druggist)
       Cesar Birotteau
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Cousin Pons

     Matifat, Madame
       Cesar Birotteau

     Matifat, Mademoiselle
       Pierrette

     Minard, Auguste-Jean-Francois
       The Government Clerks
       The Middle Classes

     Nucingen, Baron Frederic de
       Father Goriot
       Pierrette
       Cesar Birotteau
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Another Study of Woman
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Man of Business
       Cousin Betty
       The Muse of the Department
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de
       Father Goriot
       The Thirteen
       Eugenie Grandet
       Cesar Birotteau
       Melmoth Reconciled
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Commission in Lunacy
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Modeste Mignon
       Another Study of Woman
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Member for Arcis

     Palma (banker)
       Cesar Birotteau
       Gobseck
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Ball at Sceaux

     Rastignac, Eugene de
       Father Goriot
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       The Ball at Sceaux
       The Interdiction
       A Study of Woman
       Another Study of Woman
       The Magic Skin
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Gondreville Mystery
       Cousin Betty
       The Member for Arcis
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Taillefer, Jean-Frederic
       Father Goriot
       The Magic Skin
       The Red Inn

     Tillet, Ferdinand du
       Cesar Birotteau
       The Middle Classes
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Pierrette
       Melmoth Reconciled
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Member for Arcis
       Cousin Betty
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Toby (Joby, Paddy)
       The Secrets of a Princess

     Werbrust
       Cesar Birotteau