"AN EXCELLENT, RACY PICTURE… OF THE PERIOD"

(NAPOLEON) JUNOT, Laure, Duchess D"Abrantes. The Autobiography and Recollections… With Reminiscences of her Life in Corsica, Paris, and in Spain and Portugal. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary full tan calf, raised bands, red and black morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $1750.

Lovely illustrated edition, with 24 steel-engraved portraits, handsomely bound by Zaehnsdorf with gilt Napoleonic emblems to the spines and boards.

Noted for her beauty, extravagance and occasionally caustic tongue, the Duchesse D'Abrantes compiled these spirited, even spiteful memoirs in order to support herself after the suicide of her husband, a devoted general under Bonaparte. By relating the words and actions of notable persons of the day, Madame Junot provides "an excellent, racy, if not always reliable, picture of court, military, diplomatic, and literary society of the time period" (11th Britannica XV, 560). Harvey & Heseltine, 2.

Interiors fine, handsome Zaehnsdorf binding with Napoleonic gold tooling with one joint repaired, a few scuff marks on boards.