“These Memoirs are of the utmost interest,
universally renowned and appreciated
to be sought in contemporary bindings.” (Carteret)
Memorial de Sainte-Helene ou Journal ou se Trouve Consigne, Jour par Jour, ce qu'a dit et fait Napoleon Durant dix-huit mois; par Le comte de Las-Cases. Paris, chez J. Barbezat, 1830-1831.
A STUNNING SET IN EXCELLENT NEAR CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS IN NAPOLEONIC HISTORY, PRINTED DURING THE SECOND FRENCH REVOLUTION.
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An exceptional complete set with the scarce supplementary volume published a year later. Any early editions of the Memorial are very rare, especially in contemporary bindings as with these. The set shows beautifully on the shelf, bound in uniform quarter calf.
“After the death of Napoleon and based on the accounts by Las Cases, we began to think of Napoleon as a democrat, a liberal, the son of the revolution he was painting, as requested by his master. It is partly out of the Mémorial that was born this renaissance of the Napoleonian sentiment, that would reach its peak in the Retour des Cendres and find its epilogue in the arrival of Napoléon III to power. But the Mémorial did not only provoke a political movement. It influenced the birth of works of literature of extreme importance. It is after reading the Mémorial that Goethe had the idea of his conversations with Eckerman.” (Dictionnaire des Œuvres)
As Jean Tulard once stated: ‘to anyone who asks which was Napoleon's main victory among Rivoli, Austerlitz or Wagram, should not the answer be: St Helena? Defeated, dethroned, showered by the insults of hundreds of pamphlets, leaving as his only legacy in 1815 the memory of having been a modern Attila, Napoleon succeeded, through one single book, to revise his image, this Mémorial which recalled his glorious past and his misery at St. Helena... In his Mémorial Napoleon portrayed himself as the chief promoter of liberal and national ideas, as well as a martyr of the Coalition. Vive Napoléon! was often the motto shouted by the insurgents during the 1830 revolution. Thanks to Las Cases, Napoleon managed to confiscate for his own profit the two rising forces of 19th century’.
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Size: 88 x 142 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
Uniform near contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards. Spines without raised bands with gilt divisors and gilt titles. The set shows beautifully on the shelf with some minor rubbing and shelf wear. All boards are securely attached. Spines are wider than the text blocks but look fine on the shelf. Endpapers replaced. Page edges a little dulled at the top as typical else generally very good. Boards scuffed with most very good or better. Foxing through text blocks of each volume, heavier at endpapers as typical. Two foldout maps throughout and several frontispieces to many volumes. Uncollated, for lack of an authoritative source for this scarce edition, but the set appears to be complete.
