"FRENCHMEN! I AM STILL YOUR EMPEROR": 1817 FIRST EDITION OF CLARKE’S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE FINAL TWO YEARS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, "INCLUDING A COPIOUS NARRATIVE OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO"

(NAPOLEON) CLARKE, Hewson. History of the War From the Establishment of Louis XVIII on the Throne of France, to the Bombardment of Algiers; Including a Copious Narrative of the Battle of Waterloo. London: T. Kinnersley, 1817. Quarto, early 20th-century three-quarter red morocco, spine gilt-decorated with Napoleonic emblems, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt. $1250.

First edition of this illustrated history of the final years of the Napoleonic wars, from the establishment of Louis XVIII on the throne of France through Waterloo, with hand-colored map of the Battle of Waterloo and 16 engraved views and portraits, in handsome morocco-gilt.

With the clash of empires that followed the French Revolution, and campaigns led by Napoleon Bonaparte spanning three decades, the world saw the rise of a flamboyant leader who soon became "'Emperor' in this fullest sense" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Clarke's account offers a rare contemporary record of the final years of the Napoleonic wars, ending with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and imprisonment on St. Helena—which he met with the defiant "Frenchmen! I am still your emperor" (page 362). Features an additional 160-page History of the War, &c at the rear, extending into the 1816 British wars on the Barbary Coast.

Some mild foxing, light rubbing to extremities of handsome morocco-gilt. An extremely good copy.