Dubourg Courchamps - « Mata, mata ! » — Le Dos de Mayo vécu de l'intérieur : mémoires inédites d'un officier napoléonien - 1808
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Original French manuscript by Dubourg Courchamps, 52 pages, dating to 1808, titled “Mata, mata! – Le Dos de Mayo vécu de l’intérieur : mémoires inédites d’un officier napoléonien,” in reasonably good condition.
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Description from the seller
Exceptional manuscript of the unpublished memoirs of an aide-de-camp during the Spanish War! Rare!!
“They run to him yelling Mata, mata! (...) The Chief of Staff tells me: Ah, they want it, they’ll get it.”
— May 2, 1808, Madrid, Godoy Palace, Murat’s headquarters
Thus begins, in the very words of an eyewitness, one of the founding episodes of the Spanish War: the Dos de Mayo uprising. The man who writes these lines is not a journalist nor a historian — he is an engineer officer stationed at the heart of Murat’s headquarters, who himself bears the order to deploy the Imperial Guard in the streets of Madrid.
Context
This autograph manuscript consists of the Memoirs of Jean-Joseph-Maurice Du Bourg-Courchamps (1776-1861), former student of the Metz Army Engineer School, aide-de-camp to General Belliard in Madrid in 1808, then Engineer officer in the second siege of Zaragoza. Written around 1847, never published, it later went on public sale at Pastaud (Montignac), which describes it as an “exceptional document in terms of historical interest,” devoted “primarily to the Spanish war.”
Large folio (37 x 24 cm), 52 pages, cursive handwriting of the period, a few erasures and author’s corrections — the very appearance of a campaign notebook copied into clean form, never intended for edition. No cover, pages bound together with string, manuscript in good condition (see photo), fine handwriting!
Key elements
The Dos de Mayo (May 2, 1808): the author witnesses the assault of the aide-de-camp of La Grange directly, bears the order to mobilize the Imperial Guard, describes the repression street by street up to the Puerta del Sol.
A secret mission across the Balearic Islands: a night crossing by oar between Majorca and Minorca to escape the English blockade, pursued by a frigate, interview with Spanish Admiral Valdés.
The second siege of Zaragoza (December 1808 – February 1809): an almost daily trench journal — twenty-one “trench guards” numbered, the house-by-house war of mines, the death in combat of a close friend, entry into the city ravaged by epidemic.
An unpublished and delicious scene: the diamonds offered by Our Lady of the Pilar to the victorious officers — which Junot looks at “with a disdainful air,” which Mortier returns to the church, and which Lannes pockets so simply.
The Antwerp campaign against the Walcheren expedition (1809), then the return to civilian life and personal reasons — a vow made to his fiancée — which lead the author to resign from Napoleon’s service.
Why this manuscript is a rare piece
These memoirs have never been published. They are not extracts or fragments: they are a complete, continuous text of 52 pages, offering a coherent, ongoing narrative from the abrupt opening of the manuscript to its end — a length and continuity uncommon for this type of document on the market, well suited to both a collector’s reading and a scientific or critical edition project. The text has undergone a full transcription and historical analysis, available to the purchaser.
A manuscript meant for enthusiasts of the First Empire, for collectors of military manuscripts, or for anyone wishing to make known, through an edition, a testimony that has remained unpublished since 1847."
Exceptional manuscript of the unpublished memoirs of an aide-de-camp during the Spanish War! Rare!!
“They run to him yelling Mata, mata! (...) The Chief of Staff tells me: Ah, they want it, they’ll get it.”
— May 2, 1808, Madrid, Godoy Palace, Murat’s headquarters
Thus begins, in the very words of an eyewitness, one of the founding episodes of the Spanish War: the Dos de Mayo uprising. The man who writes these lines is not a journalist nor a historian — he is an engineer officer stationed at the heart of Murat’s headquarters, who himself bears the order to deploy the Imperial Guard in the streets of Madrid.
Context
This autograph manuscript consists of the Memoirs of Jean-Joseph-Maurice Du Bourg-Courchamps (1776-1861), former student of the Metz Army Engineer School, aide-de-camp to General Belliard in Madrid in 1808, then Engineer officer in the second siege of Zaragoza. Written around 1847, never published, it later went on public sale at Pastaud (Montignac), which describes it as an “exceptional document in terms of historical interest,” devoted “primarily to the Spanish war.”
Large folio (37 x 24 cm), 52 pages, cursive handwriting of the period, a few erasures and author’s corrections — the very appearance of a campaign notebook copied into clean form, never intended for edition. No cover, pages bound together with string, manuscript in good condition (see photo), fine handwriting!
Key elements
The Dos de Mayo (May 2, 1808): the author witnesses the assault of the aide-de-camp of La Grange directly, bears the order to mobilize the Imperial Guard, describes the repression street by street up to the Puerta del Sol.
A secret mission across the Balearic Islands: a night crossing by oar between Majorca and Minorca to escape the English blockade, pursued by a frigate, interview with Spanish Admiral Valdés.
The second siege of Zaragoza (December 1808 – February 1809): an almost daily trench journal — twenty-one “trench guards” numbered, the house-by-house war of mines, the death in combat of a close friend, entry into the city ravaged by epidemic.
An unpublished and delicious scene: the diamonds offered by Our Lady of the Pilar to the victorious officers — which Junot looks at “with a disdainful air,” which Mortier returns to the church, and which Lannes pockets so simply.
The Antwerp campaign against the Walcheren expedition (1809), then the return to civilian life and personal reasons — a vow made to his fiancée — which lead the author to resign from Napoleon’s service.
Why this manuscript is a rare piece
These memoirs have never been published. They are not extracts or fragments: they are a complete, continuous text of 52 pages, offering a coherent, ongoing narrative from the abrupt opening of the manuscript to its end — a length and continuity uncommon for this type of document on the market, well suited to both a collector’s reading and a scientific or critical edition project. The text has undergone a full transcription and historical analysis, available to the purchaser.
A manuscript meant for enthusiasts of the First Empire, for collectors of military manuscripts, or for anyone wishing to make known, through an edition, a testimony that has remained unpublished since 1847."
Details
Number of books
1
Author/ Illustrator
Dubourg Courchamps
Book title
« Mata, mata ! » — Le Dos de Mayo vécu de l'intérieur : mémoires inédites d'un officier napoléonien
Condition
Fair
Language
French
Publication year oldest item
1808
Original language
Yes
Number of pages
52
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