Comte de Las Cases / O’Meara / Antomarchi - Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène — édition illustrée, 2 volumes - 1842

LAS CASES (Emmanuel, comte de). Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène. Followed by Napoleon in Exile, by O’Meara and Antomarchi, and by the History of the Translation of the Mortal Remains of Emperor Napoleon to the Invalides.
Paris, Ernest Bourdin, 1842. Two volumes, 20x27.5 cm. Volume I: vii-828 pp.; volume II: pagination up to 955, with a jump from 299 to 500, without interruption of the text.

Illustrated edition of the great testimony of Las Cases on Napoleon’s captivity at Saint Helena. The narrative of conversations, memories and reflections of the Emperor is supplemented by the accounts of O’Meara and Antomarchi, and then by the evocation of the return of the ashes to the Invalides. This compilation gives the Mémorial a broad perspective, from the final years of exile to the Parisian commemorations of 1840.

The illustrations combine off-text engravings with numerous vignettes inserted in the typographic composition. Portraits, historical scenes, military episodes and views of the exile sites accompany the reading. The scene of the coronation and the compositions devoted to Saint Helena illustrate the diversity of this iconographic program. The text pages are framed by a double black rule.

Half-leather black, grain, smooth spine richly adorned with large borders and gold tooling, titles and volume numbers in gold, marbled boards and endpapers. The two uniform bindings display a sober and monumental decoration, in keeping with this edition devoted to Napoleonic memory.

Condition: rubs and wear to the boards, edges and corners; abrasion and small losses of leather material, worn tips, splits at the ends of the joints. Creases and marginal wear on certain leaves, notably the title of the first volume. Varied browning and occasional stains. The engraved plates remain clearly legible.