Junot, Laure, Duchesse d'Abrantès (1784–1838)

Memoirs of the Emperor Napoleon: From Ajaccio to Waterloo, as Soldier, Emperor, Husband [Complete Three-Volume Illustrated Set]

Akron, Ohio, St. Dunstan Society, 1901.

NAPOLEON THROUGH THE EYES OF THE WOMAN WHO MOVED WITHIN COURT.
A richly illustrated three-volume account of Napoleon's life and court by Laure Junot, Duchesse d'Abrantès, whose family connections and marriage to Napoleon's general Jean-Andoche Junot placed her within the social and political world of the Napoleonic era.

NAPOLEON FROM INSIDE HIS WORLD—FROM AJACCIO TO WATERLOO.
Following Napoleon from his Corsican origins through his military rise, empire, family life, and final defeat, Junot combines biography with the personal observations and court recollections for which her memoirs became known. This 1901 American edition was produced as part of the St. Dunstan Society's Memoirs and Secret Chronicles of the Courts of Europe, with particular attention given to decorative typography and illustration.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:A DECORATIVE THREE-VOLUME SET.
Three volumes, approximately 9 inches tall, bound in red cloth with printed decorative paper spine labels. Top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Decorative color title pages. Six captioned plates with printed tissue guards, two in each volume. The illustrations include photogravures on Japan vellum and hand-painted reproductions. The illustrated title identifies the series as Memoirs and Secret Chronicles of the Courts of Europe. Pagination: Volume I, 454 pages, Volume II, 474 pages, Volume III, 478 pages. Special introduction by S. M. Hamilton.

CONDITION: GOOD. The bindings are tight and square. Text is clean with light, even age-toning. The red cloth spines are heavily sunned, with the cloth faded toward brown. The original decorative paper spine labels are toned, rubbed, and faded but remain legible. Upper spine ends show fraying, Additional light rubbing at corners and lower spine ends. Top edges gilt remain present. Untrimmed fore and lower edges show expected age-toning and handling. Plates and captioned tissue guards present.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE — NAPOLEON REMEMBERED FROM A WOMAN INSIDE NAPOLEON'S CIRCLE.
Laure Junot's connection to Napoleon was unusually close. Her family knew the Bonapartes in Corsica, and her husband, Jean-Andoche Junot, became one of Napoleon's generals and was created Duke of Abrantès. Her memoirs consequently combine historical narrative with recollections of personalities and social life within the Napoleonic world.

MEMORIES OF AN EMPIRE.
Written after Napoleon's fall, Junot's memoirs helped shape the nineteenth-century fascination with the Emperor not simply as a military commander, but as a personality surrounded by family, courtiers, generals, rivals, and political intrigue.

HISTORY AS A GIFT BOOK.
This St. Dunstan Society edition belongs to a different collecting tradition. Published nearly a century after the events, it transforms Junot's memoir into an elaborate illustrated historical set, using decorative title pages, photogravures, tissue guards, hand coloring, gilt top edges, and untrimmed paper. Its appeal today is consequently as much visual and bibliographical as historical.

SUBJECTS: Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars, French Empire, Laure Junot, Duchesse d'Abrantès, French Court, Waterloo, France, European History, Nineteenth-Century Memoirs, Biography, European History, Court Memoirs, Military History.

Item #22428

Price: $75.00