BERTHIER (Louis-Alexandre).

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By Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés

Dec 13, 2022

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• Lot Description
  BERTHIER (Louis-Alexandre). Relation of the battle of Marengo. In Paris, from the Imperial Printing Office. Year 1806. In-4, (4 of which the first 2 are blank)-40 pp, folding table printed outside the text mounted on tab; brown shagreened calf, smooth spine partitioned and decorated with gilt motifs among which an imperial eagle, large gilt frame on the boards formed by a frieze of laurels between fillets with radiating stars at the corners, gilt coat of arms in the center of the boards, ornamented spines, gilt inner scroll, gilt edges; binding one worn with a split bit and small lacks at the spines, small stains in the margin of a plate (period binding).
  
  ORIGINAL EDITION on vellum paper, in-4 format.
  
  7 copper-engraved plates out of the text mounted on tabs, 6 of which are double-page fold-outs, namely: a dedication with a scene after Carle Vernet representing Bonaparte on the battlefield, a general map, 4 particular maps drawn up under the direction of General Nicolas-Antoine, a view of the battle.
  
  A RICH EDITORIAL HISTORY MARKED BY THE IMPERIAL WILL. The drawing of the maps and
  The drawing of the maps and the writing of the text accompanying the Relation de la bataille de Marengo required six years of work and are particularly representative of the attention that Bonaparte paid to his personal propaganda, and of the desire that he had to elevate this battle, however controversial, to the rank of his first great personal military victory after his accession to power. From 1800 to 1806, the story was told in five successive versions that varied as the status of the hero and, consequently, that of his gesture evolved. Although the third version, prepared at the Dépôt de la Guerre, was based on extensive documentary research, the numerous modifications made by the First Consul, then Emperor, progressively made the story and the maps more consistent with the image of the invincible general that he wished to embody... but sometimes distanced them from historical reality. The crucial point was to conceal the dispersion of the French troops and to give credence to the idea of a calculated plan articulated around the pivot of Castel-Ceriolo: the direction of Lannes' retreat, in particular, was altered for this purpose. At St. Helena Napoleon I would give a final account of Marengo, in which he would further accentuate the final version of the present Relation of 1806.
  
  ONE OF THE COPIES IN AN OFFICIAL COMMISSION BINDING BY JEAN-CLAUDE BOZÉRIAN. This one seems to have
  He seems to have signed only those covered with morocco, with an identical decoration in the same irons (with some variations).
  
  MARENGO, KEY MOMENT OF THE SECOND ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, AND "FIRST GLOBAL MANEUVRE OF
  BONAPARTE", according to Jacques Garnier: it "joins together the political action (with regard to the enemy and the French people), the strategic action (the whole of the available forces and the part under its own command) and the tactical action in a battle of which the chief had so much difficulty to see himself attributing, to him only, the victory".
  
  EXEMPLAIRE BONDED TO THE ARMS OF NAPOLEON I (OHR, pl. n° 2652, n°11).
  
  Provenance: de Gigord family (armorial vignette).