predilecta

Updated: September 30, 2025

That Madame de Berny thought of him only, of herself not at all, speaks volumes for the nobility and purity of her love, and we again feel that the "predilecta" never rose to her heights, and that to his first love belongs the credit of "creating" Balzac.

Mary F. (Mary Frances) Sandars - Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings