Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$272.25 + shipping
Description: Number 87 of 100 specially bound copies signed by Somerset de Chair, from an overall limitation of 500, 12mo. (110 x 145mm (4¼ x 5¾ inches)), engraved portrait frontispiece, original vellum gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, covers decorated with a honeycomb design and Napoleonic bee, very minor splaying, gilt edges, a fine copy. An attractive translated edition of the work written by Napoleon at the age of 23, shortly before the siege of Toulon, extolling the virtues of a Revolutionary army in France's time of need. Cockalorum 166
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Bonaparte, Napoleon. SUPPER AT BEAUCAIRE. The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1945.
Price: US$510.39 + shipping
Description: Translated into English for the first time by Somerset de Chair. Pp. 38+[2](colophon, blank), frontispiece portrait; demy l6mo; bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full vellum, spine lettered in gilt, boards blocked in gilt with an overall honeycomb pattern surrounding a central bee emblem, the boards slightly sprung; a.e.g.; The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1945. Edition limited to 500 numbered copies, this being one of 100 copies thus bound, printed on Batchelor's hand-made paper, and signed by the translator. Cockalorum 166. *From the library of Sir Thomas Ramsay, with his discreet ownership stamp in blind on the upper free endpaper. Later from the library of David Levine, Sydney, with his small book label on the upper pastedown. 'A masterly manifesto written by Napoleon during his residence in Marseilles. Taking the form of a conversation between a soldier and a number of companions who discuss revolutionary topics in an inn, it had a powerful effect' [Cockalorum p. 25].
Seller: Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Price: US$4992.00 + shipping
Description: 317 x 190 mm. (12 1/2 x 7 1/2"). 422, [2]; 78, [2] pp. Two volumes bound in one. Translated and edited by Somerset de Chair. HANDSOME RED MOROCCO BY BAYNTUN (RIVIERE) (stamp-signed in gilt on rear turn-in), covers with double gilt rule surrounding a field of alternating gilt tools (a bee, and the letter "N" encircled by a wreath), upper board with inset WATERCOLOR OVAL PORTRAIT OF NAPOLEON, with two flags, a gun, and a saber outlined in gilt appearing to cross behind it, lower cover with large gilt armorial device, raised bands, compartments ruled in gilt with bee or "N" tool at the center, gilt lettering, thick turn-ins with gilt rules and decorative cornerpieces, blue watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, original map endpapers bound in. Volume I with a frontispiece portrait of Napoleon, volume II with a black and white photograph of a modern sculpture of the general, title page of each volume with a woodcut design of an eagle clutching a flag among other accoutrements of war. Title page of volume one SIGNED BY THE EDITOR in ink. Chanticleer 167; Cave & Manson 167. âSmall nick to head of spine and some minor damage along the tail, two small stains and a couple of dings to covers, but still a beautiful binding in very pleasing condition. Small repair to edge of one of the map endpapers, one or two isolated trivial smudges elsewhere, but the contents nearly pristine. This is a finely bound copy of an innovative version of the memoirs that were based on conversations between Napoleon and Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné-Joseph, Comte de Las Cases (1766-1842). The count accompanied the defeated emperor into exile on Saint Helena as an informal secretary, took a great many notes about Napoleon's life, inserted his own impressions, colored his account to the point of (favorable) misrepresentation, and published the work as the celebrated "Mémorial de Ste. Hélène," from which he made a substantial amount of money. Our translator and editor Somerset de Chair has turned the text into a first-person narrative and rearranged the pieces so that events are recalled in chronological order. The first volume covers the general's career from Corsica to Marengo, and the second is devoted to Waterloo. The so-called "Cosway" binding, featuring handsome morocco inset with one or more painted miniatures, apparently originated with the London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran about 1909. It was in that year that G. C. Williamson's book entitled "Richard Cosway" (dealing with the British miniature painter of that name, 1742-1821) was remaindered by Sotheran and presumably given this special decorative treatment. The name "Cosway" was then used to describe any book so treated, whoever its author. Other prominent binderies, chiefly Sangorski & Sutcliffe and Bayntun, produced their own versions of the popular style. The Bayntun firm, founded in Bath in 1894, is now the last of the great Victorian trade binderies still in family ownership. Among the great English workshops of the Edwardian "golden age" of lavish bindings, Bayntun has the distinction of being the only one located outside London's West End to be sought after by bibliophiles. In 1939, Bayntun took over the esteemed Riviere firm, founded in 1829. The oval portrait on the present work is especially pleasing because it communicates something of Napoleon's character: he appears smug and in control, yet expressing some of the famous charisma that contributed to his success. The miniature bears the monogram "WMB," quite likely the initials of William Mineard Bennet (1778-1858), a painter and miniaturist who studied under Thomas Lawrence. According to Benezit, he went to Paris in 1835 "where he was extremely well received, enjoying the patronage of both the Duke de Berry and King Louis-Philippe.".
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.