Memoirs: Napoleon, His Court And family (2 vols in fine binding)
London: Richard Bentley, 1836. First edition thus. Leather_bound. Two volumes, first editions in English translation. 548 and 520 pp with index. With 16 fine portraits on steel, Bound in green three quarter leather over marbled paper covered boards, hubbed spines lined in gilt and with red leather, gilt lettered labels. Marbled endpapers and marbled edges to the text blocks. The bindings show rubbing to the outer hinges and tips; interiors clean and bright. Laure Junot, Duchess of D'Abrantes (1784-1838) was a French memoirist of whose writings this memoir of Napoleon Bonaparte was the most famous and enduring. After the death of her father in 1795, Laure's mother conducted a distinguished French salon in Paris; some sources claim that a young Napoleon Bonaparte, who frequented the salon, proposed marriage to the widowed mother and was turned down; what is known is that in 1800 Napoleon arranged a marriage between Laure and his aide-de-camp Andoche Junot. When Junot was made ambassador to Portugal (1804-05), his young wife accompanied him to Lisbon. The marriage was unhappy and Mme. Junot had affairs with multiple members of Parisian high society. Napoleon reportedly was annoyed by this dalliances and when her husband died by suicide in 1813, he ordered Mme. Junot to leave Paris. She returned a number of years later during the Restoration period and with the help of Honore Balzac, Very Good. Item #E34691
Price: $150.00