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Lot 33•
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE Autograph letter unsigned, in English, to Emmanuel, Comte de Las Cases, Longwood, 6 March 1816
Amended
20 November 2024, 13:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £40,000 inc. premium
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NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Autograph letter in English, to Emmanuel, Comte de Las Cases ("Sir Count Las Cases"), "...j write you this letter for say to you that you had done a very good book. it is not however that is not somme fautes it is not but you schal may correct them at in the next edition. then schal you may sell your work five pound l'exempliary every exemplary. upon that j pray god that he have you in his holy and worthy guard..."; autograph integral address panel ("Counte Lascases/ Longwood/very urgent"), with remnants of red wax seal, one page on a bifolium torn from a larger sheet along lower edge, Brittania watermark, dust-staining particularly to address panel where exposed, marks and smudges, one or two pin holes where folds join, creased at folds, seal tear (old repair), 4to (200 x 164mm.), tipped into an album also containing an old wrapper ("Ecriture de l'Empereur") and note of provenance, half morocco, marbled boards and endpapers, title 'Papers de Las Cases I' and 'Autographes de l'empereur' surmounted by the crowned imperial eagle in gilt on spine, folio (340 x 240mm.), Longwood, 6 March 1816
Footnotes
The album also contains a sheet of geometric doodles seemingly in the hand of Napoleon, watermark of 'D&Co., 1813', sheet size c.265 x 200mm.
The album also contains a sheet of geometric doodles seemingly in the hand of Napoleon, watermark of 'D&Co., 1813', sheet size c.265 x 200mm.
The album also contains a sheet of geometric doodles seemingly in the hand of Napoleon, watermark of 'D&Co., 1813', sheet size c.265 x 200mm.
'J WRITE YOU THIS LETTER FOR SAY TO YOU THAT YOU HAD DONE A VERY GOOD BOOK': THE STUDENT EMPEROR-IN-EXILE MAKING FUN OF HIS ENGLISH TEACHER, THE FIRST OF ONLY THREE KNOWN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS WRITTEN BY NAPOLEON IN ENGLISH.
Our letter is the first in a series of only three known autograph letters written by Napoleon in English to his English teacher and companion in exile, Emmanuel, Comte de Las Cases, known to have survived. In his hugely successful memoir Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (published in 1823 after Napoleon's death), Las Cases documents Napoleons difficulties and successes in mastering the English language, the attainment of which was '...a real and serious conquest..' (Mémorial, Vol.I, Part II, 1823, p.153).
According to the Mémorial, Napoleon first expressed an interest to learn the language en route to St Helena in 1815 aboard the Northumberland. Las Cases, who had honed his English skills during his own exile in London after the Revolution, gave him his first lessons on 23-25 August 1815 and once the entourage was established on the island, the tutorials began in earnest the following January. Napoleon was keen to achieve a good command of the language which would allow him to read the English books and newspapers which were the only reading matter available on the island (and thus discover what the English press thought of him), facilitate negotiations with his captors, as well as saving money on expensive translations. These lessons became a regular and important part of Napoleon's daily routine, although, according to Las Cases, Napoleon was not the easiest student, alternating between conscientious and diligent application and a visible dislike for the task, frustrated by his bad memory for languages, and often threatening to abandon the project entirely.
Despite these difficulties, Napoleon was, however, determined to succeed and would amuse himself by writing in English to Las Cases during his long sleepless nights. The three letters that comprise the so-called 'night correspondence', were all written within a few days of each other; the present letter dated 6 March 1816 (a joke which Las Cases fell for to the great amusement of both parties), another from the following day held in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (complaining "...Since sixt week j learn the Englich and j do not any progress.."), and another from the 8/9 March, sold in these rooms 27 October 2021, lot 154.
Las Cases describes the receipt of this, the first letter, thus: '...A moment before dinner, I went, as usual, to the salon, where the Emperor was playing a game of chess with the Grand Marshal. The valet de chambre on duty at the door of the living room came to bring me a letter, on which was written very urgent. Out of respect for the Emperor, I went aside to read it: it was in English; it stated that I had composed an excellent work [his Historical Atlas], that, nevertheless was not without faults; that if I would correct them in a new edition, no doubt that the work would be more valuable for it... Such a letter excited my astonishment, and made me rather angry; the colour rushed to my face; I did not, at first, give myself time to consider the writing. In reading it over again I recognised the hand, notwithstanding its being much better written than usual, and I could not help laughing a good deal to myself. But the Emperor, who cast a side-glance at me, asked me from whom the letter came.... The letter was from him; the pupil had a mind to jest with his master, and try his powers at his expense. I carefully preserve this letter; the gaiety, the style, and the whole circumstance, render it more valuable to me than any diploma...' (Mémorial, Vol.I, Part II, 1823, p.p.284-285).
What emerged from the hard work, as can be seen here, was a barely comprehensible, idiosyncratic style of English, with random punctuation and somewhat 'wayward spelling' as historian Peter Hicks politely puts it. Napoleon insists on writing 'J' – as in the French 'je' instead of 'I' throughout – stubbornly refusing to relinquish the French first person pronoun for the English. As for his spoken English, Las Cases admits that Napoleon's attempts were almost completely incomprehensible, a style of speaking that, once formed, was impossible to correct; 'a completely new language' wrote Las Cases in despair, something also noted by St Helena resident and regular visitor to Napoleon, Betsy Balcombe. Peter Hicks has written extensively about Napoleon's attempts to learn English in his article Napoleon's English Lessons (www.napoleon.org) in which he paints an evocative picture '...of the great man screwing his courage to the sticking point to learn vocabulary like a schoolboy, mispronouncing foreign words, but also finally becoming proficient in the language of his great adversary...', represented here by our letter, a rare and important survival.
Provenance: Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné-Joseph, Count de las Cases (1766-1842); his eldest son Emmanuel Pons Dieudonné de las Cases (1800-1854); his nephew Barthélémy, Comte de las Cases (1845-1923); his daughter Marque de Las Cases du Closel (1881-1974), according to a letter signed by her and dated 9 rue St Florentin, Paris, 3 May 1924, bound into the album; Osenat, 8 November 2021, lot 100; private collection.
Saleroom notices
The album also contains a sheet of geometric doodles seemingly in the hand of Napoleon, watermark of 'D&Co., 1813', sheet size c.265 x 200mm.