Napoléon Ier (1769-1821)

Lot 196
Go to lot
Estimation :
10000 - 15000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 14 856EUR
Napoléon Ier (1769-1821)
autograph MANUSCRIT, [Notes on Profiles of Field Fortification], [1818]; notebook of 19 leaves i.e. 31 pages infol. in pencil (2 in ink; watermarks Iping 1813, Stacey Wise 1818, C R 1815, Golding & Snelgrove 1815, W 1815, T Edmonds 1816, and the "Britannia"), bound with a pink silk ribbon sealed with a red wax seal with the arms of Count Bertrand ["Liasse No. 3"]; in red morocco slipcase. Very important working notes for the Essai sur la fortification de campagne, which Napoleon undertook on St. Helena. Preparatory notes for the great military work that Napoleon undertook on St. Helena. These notes concern the construction of field works, the profile and size of the braies, the benches with explanations and solutions to certain drawbacks, but also the number and composition of the brigades... At the head of the manuscript, Napoleon indicated that these notes seemed to him to fulfill the conditions requested by Bertrand that very morning: "These 2 profiles fulfill it seems to me the conditions requested this morning by Bertrand. The profile of the 2nd braye is 7P6P and thus 9 feet the bench of the 3rd braye the distance of the 2 lines of fire is 6T [...] One wants for the rifle more lattitude [...] Suppose a man rises 3 inches above the crete of the parapet which is 4p.3 or aims his shot at the inner edge he will have an artificial range of 6P per line"... Etc. Two diagrams explain these notes. On the 3rd page, plan of section of a bastion (with ink and the pencil) with indication of its dimensions. This is followed by eight pages of notes and calculations on the location, composition and arms of infantry and cavalry battalions, with the indication "chapter V of the arms"... Then come important considerations on the architecture of VAUBAN's fieldworks, on the profiles, brayes, ditches, enclosures, palisades, etc., with a second SCHEDULE of fortification. Provenance Archives of General BERTRAND; then succession Eugène ROSSIGNOL (22-23 May 1997, n° 602, with its dry stamp).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue