(ed.), Gli ultimi viaggi di Napoleone

This helpful book by Alberto Dati brings together for the first time in Italian two famous texts in English recounting Napoleon's last journeys. The first is Thomas Ussher's celebrated account of Napoleon's journey from Fontainebleau to Fréjus before embarking for Elba. The second is Admiral Cockburn's account of Napoleon's voyage from Plymouth to St Helena. Both include useful notes and a detailed introduction. Also included in this clear and accurate translation is a translation of the admiral's initial account of the journey to St Helena up to the arrival in Madeira (23-25 August, 1815) – printed on pp. 169-176. This text, entitled ‘Narrative of Bonaparte's Passage', would appear not to have been published previously.
 
The book comes with helpful footnotes which clarify the text at certain points, and it is a very useful addition to the literature in Italian on Napoleon on St Helena, following as it does, Luigi Mascilli Migliorini's recent re-edition of Las Cases' Memorial in Italian. Furthermore, it provides an important opening for literature on Napoleon on Elba.
 
One particularly interesting feature of the publication is the printing of the co-ordinates of the Northumberland's voyage from England to St Helena. I amused myself by typing them into Google Earth (c) and following the voyage in this way. I note here (for completeness' sake) a few omissions in Alberto Dati's list (with respect both to Cockburn's and Glover's) but also errors published in the John Holland Rose's earlier edition of these two texts (published first in 1895 and then again later in 1906). Rose's volume, as Mr Dati notes on p. 164, was the model for his publication, though Holland Rose preferred Glover's to Cockburn's account.
 
About the author
Alberto Dati (b. 1975) is a secondary school teacher and Napoleon enthusiast. His other books include an Italian translation of Tom Stoppard's play “Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are dead” (Sellerio 1998), Storia della Filosofia della Scienza nel`900 (2 vols) (Levante 2003) and Ragione e Sovversione (Levante 2005).
 
The co-ordinates missing from the list (pp. 183-4):
28 August 26° 2' N 19° 9' W
12° 41' N 23° 55' W (6 not 8 Sept)
7 August 12° 2' N 22° 59' W
14 September 7° 2' N 17° 10' W
17 September 4° 32' N 14° 26' W
18 September 3° 55' N 12° 56' W
25 September 1° 20 S 1 16' W
26 September 2° 4' S 0° 20 W
28 September 4° 60' (not 68) S 2° 25' E
29 September 4° 52 S 3° 50' E
1 October 5° 39' S 6° 26' E
3 October 6° 53' S 6° 40' E
5 October 8° 50' S 8° 52' E
6 October 9° 35' S 9° 32' E
8 October 9° 55' S 8° 56' E
11 October 12° 2' S 4° 11' E
12 October 14° 8' S 0° (not 4) 29' E
13 October 15° 23' S 4° 54' W (not E)
14 October 16° 8' S 5° 57' W (not E)

P.H. September 2010