Amazon.com description: Product Description: 1932. It was with the publication of this volume that Balzac's literary career really began. It examines the physical and moral aspects of marriage, its pleasures and despairs, are the subject of this piquant guide for brides and grooms, prospective and veteran. Balzac proposes that marriage and the selection of a wife be treated as a science, and examines topics ranging from moral education to methods for foiling adulterous relationships. Though addressed to a male audience, the book's lively attack on the stale institution of marriage also made it popular with women readers of its day. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.