SLOANE'S ILLUSTRATED LIFE OF NAPOLEON, SUMPTUOUSLY BOUND WITH A HAND-PAINTED COSWAY-STYLE PORTRAIT IN VOLUME I, LAVISHLY EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 550 ENGRAVINGS—MANY HAND-COLORED—AND WITH A MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT ENDORSED BY NAPOLEON BOUND IN

(NAPOLEON) SLOANE, William Milligan. Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: Century, 1896. Four volumes bound in eight. Folio (9 by 12 inches), 20th-century full red morocco, covers and spines elaborately gilt-decorated with Napoleonic crest and devices, raised bands, hand-painted Cosway-style portrait inset into front doublure of Volume I, watered silk endpapers, all edges gilt. Each volume housed in a custom cloth clamshell box. $49,000.

First edition of Sloane's monumental account of Napoleon's personal and military life, issued with over 300 illustrations, portraits and maps, many in color. This splendidly bound and extra-illustrated set has been extended from four folio volumes to eight by the inclusion of 553 additional portraits, views, and battle scenes, many hand-colored and many folding, with a manuscript document from 1810 signed by Napoleon bound into Volume I. Beautifully bound by Bayntun-Riviere in full morocco-gilt, decorated with Napoleonic emblems, and with a large (5-3/8 by 3-3/4-inch) and fine hand-painted Cosway-style portrait of Napoleon on ivory, signed A. Guillon, inset into the morocco doublure of Volume I.

Historian William Sloane was professor of history at Princeton University and president of the American Historical Association. "Of Sloane's writings, that which attracted the most attention was his Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was published originally in the form of a serial in the Century Magazine, beginning in November 1894, enlarged into four massive volumes in 1896… The product of many years of elaborate investigation, it was sumptuously illustrated and composed" (DAB). The rich treasure trove of extra illustrations were painstakingly assembled over many years by British bookseller and binder George Bayntun, and include engravings and lithographs from the first half of the 19th century, including many double-page and folding plates, many hand-colored, including a number of plates from Luigi Mayer's splendid Views in Egypt (1801-04), a lovely series of hand-colored folio lithographic views of that country from close to the time that Napoleon was campaigning there, and plates from William Bradford's 1809 Sketches of the Country, Character, And Costume, in Portugal And Spain, another excellent series of hand-colored folio lithographic views of that region contemporary with the Peninsular War.

Tipped into Volume I is an autograph document signed from General Carcome to the Duc de Bassano, Paris, October 28, 1810, on one folio page: "General Carcome requests an allowance of 10 or 12,000 francs to be returned two months after his entry into Portugal." Napoleon has endorsed and signed the letter: "Accordé 12,000 livres à la guerre en gratification. Nap." Hugues-Bernard Maret (1763-1839), was granted the title Duc de Bassano by Napoleon in 1809—an indication of how much Napoleon valued his service. An important counselor and secretary to Napoleon, he accompanied Napoleon through most of his campaigns, including the greater part of the disastrous campaign into Russia, as well as that of 1815 and the Hundred Days. Ex-library Stanley S. Kresge, Esquire, of Detroit, Michigan, dated 1941. The front cover of each volume bears Kresge's gilt monogram. Old bookseller description tipped to the front flyleaf of Volume I.

A sumptuously bound and extra-illustrated set in fine condition.