Jacques Marquet de Montbreton baron de NORVINS. History of Napoleon. Paris, Ambroise Dupont, 1827-1828.

4 vol. in-8, xxiv-453-1 pp., 480 pp. (missing notebook pp.353-384), 491 pp., 539-(4) pp. ; half red leatherette, smooth spine decorated with nets and friezes with golden trefoils, crowned “ML” number on the covers (contemporary binding). Slightly worn headdresses, some foxing.

First edition and first printing of this great classic, a true apology for the Emperor, which in its time reinforced the Napoleonic legend with nearly 22 successive editions. Enriched with 37 added plates, our copy includes a total of 104 plates, most of them illustrated by Raffet, including 49 portraits, 28 engraved scenes, 26 battle plans and maps (including 6 folding), 1 facsimile.

Born in 1769, the same year as Napoleon, he said with pride, Norvins was a young advisor at the Chatelet in Paris when the Revolution broke out. Emigrating, he served in the armies of princes before returning to France in 1797, under the protection of Madame de Staël. Norvins then rallied to the cause of Napoleon Bonaparte, and served as secretary to General Leclerc, brother-in-law of the First Consul, during the Santo Domingo campaign: subsequently, we find him at the Council of State of the Kingdom of Westphalia, chamberlain of Queen Catherine, then charge d'affaires in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and finally director of the police of the Roman States from 1810 to 1814. From 1816, he devoted himself to writing, notably collaborating on the Universal biography of contemporaries (1820-1825) with Arnault, Jay and Jouy, before publishing his famous History of Napoleon in 1827 which was an editorial success, and working on his Memorial or Memories of a Napoleon Historian. In the opinion of great historians including Tulard, these posthumous memoirs confirm their “indisputable authenticity” and their great interest in the history of Napoleon.

Norvins had married in 1823, the daughter of General Thiébault, Baron of the Empire.