AUTOGRAPH LETTERS & HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS MAGGS 1477 No.52, Napoleon, 1808 THE AGE OF NAPOLEON, NELSON AND WELLINGTON MAGGS 1477 No.43, Berthier Maggs Bros Ltd., 50 Berkeley Square, London W1J 5BA Open Monday – Friday, 9.30am – 5.00pm Tel: (00)44-(0)20-7493 7160 Fax: (00)44-(0)20-7499 2007 [email protected] Bank Account: Allied Irish (GB), 10 Berkeley Square, London W1J 6AA Sort code: 23-83-97 Account Number: 47777070 IBAN: GB94AIBK23839747777070 BIC: AIBKGB2L VAT No.: GB239381347 Access/Mastercard and Visa: Please quote card number, expiry date, name, security code and invoice number by mail, fax or telephone. EU members: please quote your VAT/TVA number when ordering. Items may be subject to VAT within the EU; EU customers outside the UK may not be subject to VAT if they provide a VAT number at time of purchase. The goods shall legally remain the property of the seller until the price has been discharged in full. Printed by Purely Print ©Maggs Bros Ltd. 2015 2015 marks the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo. Waterloo - the name is evocative of the most decisive victory of all, a victory of the Allies over Napoleon, of stability over constant upheavals, of the old order over the revolution and the Corsican usurper. And yet it is the quarter century which preceded Waterloo which continues to fascinate us. It was a period which changed Europe irrevocably. The Bourbon monarchy was restored in France, yet it would only lead to revolution in 1830. Another revolution in 1848 would bring the French monarchy to an end. For Britain, it would mark the beginning of a century of industrial and mercantile ascendance. The age of the railways, the shift from the country to the great Victorian cities lay ahead. For the rest of Europe, a period of stabilization would be followed by the rise of nationalism, with the emergence of Germany and Italy as united countries. The seeds of this movement had been sown by Napoleon, with the Confederation of the Rhine and the Cisalpine Republic, but it would take another fifty years before it arrived at its logical conclusion. This catalogue, arranged chronologically, offers glimpses into the vast changes which took place during this period, both in society and in the constantly changing map of Europe. The cast of characters includes the obvious major names: Napoleon, Wellington, Nelson, and the marshals - Ney, Massena, Murat, Bernadotte, Berthier, Soult, Jourdan – as well as the monarchs, George III and Louis XVIII. There are, of course, generals and admirals: Hardy, Collingwood, St. Vincent, Calder, Sidney Smith, Junot, Blucher, Gneisenau, William Prince of Orange, Napier, Paget, Mackenzie and Sherbrooke. Among the women feature Napoleon’s wives, Josephine and Marie Louise, his sisters Pauline and Elisa, his intellectual foe Madame de Staël and the exiled Madame Tallien. The important ministers are here: Melville, Fox, Talleyrand, Fouché, Chaptal. But there is also a cast of minor characters, whose presence gives us a privileged insight into the social, intellectual, indeed everyday life at the time: the francophile Spaniard Marchena; John Moor, an English inventor and manufacturer living in France; the barrister William Garrow; Laure Dillon, step-mother of the great memoirist Madame de la Tour du Pin; the diplomat Henry Williams Wynn; the duc de Montmorency writing to the Duchess of Devonshire. The urgency of the battles – two of the letters are dated ‘from the battlefield’ and one was annotated by Napoleon while on the battlefield – is meshed together with the minutiae of daily life and social concerns. Seeing this catalogue take shape has been a fascinating journey, and I hope you will enjoy it as well. 1. NELSON, Horatio, Lord (1758-1805). Victor of Trafalgar. Autograph Lett er Signed (“Horatio Nelson”) writt en with his right hand, to his uncle William Suckling, giving his thoughts on the situation in the Mediterranean, remarking that “if we are to fi nish the War with france we must not be disposed to stop at triffl es . .” and expressing the hope that “if my conduct is approved of in September we shall be at Nice & perhaps across the Var[,] for Provence will I am sure declare for us the fi rst opportunity”. 2½ pages 4to with integral address leaf and major portion of his red wax seal, Leghorn, 27 July 1795. £10,250 An early lett er, writt en when Nelson was Captain of the 64-gun Agamemnon during the French Revolutionary Wars. “I have I hear so many lett ers gone to the fl eet and to Genoa that I hope to have one of yours amongst them and to hear that all my worthy friends at Kentish Town are well. I was blown in here yesterday morning in a heavy gale of wind from my station off Genoa, at which place I am fi xed to co-operate with the Austrian Army . the orders I have given by the advice of The Ministers of Turin & Genoa are strong & I know not how my admiral will approve of them for they are in a great measure contrary to those he gave me but the service requires strong & vigorous measures to bring the war to a conclusion. My orders are to take & detain all vessels to whatever nations they may belong bound to france[.] the Genoese begin to quake[,] Tuscany will do the same & the Dey of Algiers seems the only power which England fears, but if we are to fi nish the War with france we must not be disposed to stop at triffl es, it has already continued much too long more by an opposition & fear of an opposition at home than want of power in England. We have much power here at present to do great things if we know how to apply it by[sic] Hotham must get a new head no mans heart is bett er but that will not do without the other, if my conduct is approved of in September we shall be at Nice & perhaps across the Var for Provence will I am sure declare for us the fi rst opportunity . I must conclude with begging you to present my kindest remembrances to Mrs Suckling Miss Suckling and our friends at Hampstead . .” Both the Austrian General de Vins and Admiral Hotham proved lacking in energy in pursuit of the French. On 17 June, Admiral Hotham had issued orders to the eff ect that all those under his command were to “take all possible care not to give any just cause of off ence to the Foreign Powers in amity with His Majesty . .” However, in Francis Drake, British Minister at Genoa, Nelson evidently found a man whose thinking was more in tune with his own, writing to him that “. if your Excellency will tell me that it is for the benefi t of His Majesty’s service . that I should stop all trade between the Neutral Towns and France . I will give proper directions to the Squadron under my command for that purpose.” Nelson’s hopes that he would be able to take Nice and see Provence fall were not unrealistic, as there was signifi cant anti- revolutionary sentiment in the south. Less than two years earlier, Toulon had seen a royalist uprising, supported by the British, which might well have succeeded, but was fi nally crushed, largely thanks to a then all but unknown young offi cer, Napoleon Bonaparte. This lett er is published in Nicolas. Remains of guard to the verso of the second leaf. 2. NEY, Michel, Duc d’Elchingen and Prince de la Moskova (1769-1815). French Marshal. Autograph Lett er Signed (“Ney”) to Division General Colaud, informing him that he has just pursued eight hundred of the enemy who had been sent to destroy the munitions and stores left behind at Ehrenbreitstein, and saying that the enemy is “extremely disheartened”. 1¼ pages 4to in French, Montabauer, 17 prairial an 4 [5 June 1796]. £1400 At the time of the French Revolutionary Wars, when France sought fi rst to protect its borders from the threatening Austrian army, then to pursue the war in enemy territory, French troops under Jourdan and Moreau crossed the Rhine, while Napoleon was cutt ing a victorious swathe through Italy. Ney had distinguished himself the previous day at the batt le of Altenkirchen. Trans: “I have just returned my dear General from a rigorous pursuit of eight hundred men, both infantry and cavalry, who had been sent from Ehrenbreitstein to destroy the considerable munitions which the enemy have abandoned. I hold several. And houses full of stores, such as 1340 hundredweight of fl our in kegs – 600 sacks of oats and 300 thousand rations of hay. I would have marched on Dietz had I not feared that the Austrians might return to set fi re to it. It would be important to evacuate it, as the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein can easily send a party to disperse it. By leaving tomorrow, I will leave a large detachment to guard the provisions. I await your orders for tomorrow’s march. The enemy has entirely evacuated its camp at Neuwied and has passed to Cahn [Caan] near Dietz. They are extremely disheartened. I have a few prisoners . and a deserter from Bercheny’s regiment – a hussar who I will send to you tomorrow . .” As the French army continued its progress east of the Rhine, Ney continued to gain recognition for his courage and skill, capturing Wurtzburg where he took two thousand prisoners. The German campaign ended badly for France aft er Archduke Charles defeated Jourdan’s forces in September of this year, but by then Ney’s qualities had earned him promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General.