Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte; To which are Added an Account of the Important Events of the Hundred Days, of Napoleon's Surrender to the English, and of His Residence and Death at St. Helena, with Anecdotes and Illustrative Extracts from all the most authentic sources

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. New and Revised Edition. Hardcover. Fair. 4 volumes. (lii, 422, xvi, xvii, 410 [with fold-outs],ix, 459 [folding map] and 444 pages) Frontis illustrations. Illustrations. Chronology. Covers have some wear and soiling. Some pages uncut. Some page foxing. Top edge gilt. Some damp staining to top edge of Vol. II. Some boards weak, glued. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (July 9, 1769 - February 7, 1834) was a French diplomat. Bourrienne is famous for his Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, a work based on years of friendship and professional association. They met at the Military Academy at Brienne when eight years old. Following the affair of 13 Vendémiaire he moved back to Paris and again associated with Bonaparte, who soon left to command the Army of Italy. The spectacularly victorious general urgently summoned Bourrienne to Italy for the negotiations with Austria, where his knowledge of law and diplomacy was useful in drafting the terms of the Treaty of Campo Formio. Bourrienne anticipated Napoleon's fame and kept notes and documents. His book gives a vivid, intimate, detailed account of his interactions with Napoleon and his mother, brothers and sisters; with his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais and her children; with notable French politicians; and with the marshals. His narrative is invigorated by many dialogues, not only of those in which he was a speaker but even of conversations that he only was told about by others. Many judgments are supported by quotes from documents. Naturally his narration is colored by his relationship with his subject: close friendship, working together intimately for years. He tries to be balanced and gives many examples of Napoleon's brilliance, his skill at governance, and his deft political maneuvers. One of his bombshells is the claim that the Grand Army based at Boulogne was never meant to invade England, it was a diversion to keep British forces at home. As Goethe wrote: "All of the illusions, with which journalists and historians have surrounded Napoleon, vanishes before the awe-inspiring realisms of this book...".