"SON, BROTHER, FRIEND, HUSBAND, FATHER; AND THE PUBLIC MAN, THE MAN OF ACTION": NAPOLEON, IN HIS OWN WORDS

(NAPOLEON) PROD'HOMME, J.-G., editor. Napoleon: Collection des Plus Belles Pages. Paris: Mercure de France, 1938. Octavo, modern three-quarter green morocco, red morocco spine labels, top edge gilt, uncut and largely unopened. $750.

First edition of this collection of Napoleon's "most beautiful pages," taken from his letters, speeches, proclamations, orders and other messages both private and public, handsomely bound.

"For an 'author' like Napoleon, the 'most beautiful pages' are undoubtedly the most characteristic, that is to say those where the private man is best reflected: son, brother, friend, husband, father; and the public man, the man of action, whose prodigious career as soldier and administrator embraces no more than twenty years, followed by an agony of six years" (Preface, translated). Includes testimonies of Napoleon's contemporaries, as well as a bibliography and an iconography. Text in French.

An attractively bound copy in fine condition.