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EDITORIAL
Now that Google in partnership with American university and public libraries has been putting online hundreds of thousands of books (Google Book Search), European and notably French libraries have been stung into action. On 8 February, the French minister for culture, Monsieur Donnedieu de Vabres announced a huge, and it must be said ambitious, project of a similar sort - indeed particularly amibitious since it promised a great deal of content accessible in 2006! As a result the Bibliothèque nationale de France has undertaken to convert 70 to 80 % of the content of the website Gallica from image documents into fulltext documents: indeed users of Gallica have frequently lamented that the Bibliothèque Nationale did not take this decision in the first place... Furthermore, the European Commission is encouraging the libraries in member countries to digitise their holdings in an attempts to match the Google, and more recently also Yahoo, projects. The aim of the Commission's «i2010, digital libraries» plan is as follows: more than 6 million boks, in all languages online in five years. On the same subject, the French Bibliothèque Nationale announced yesterday (23 March) that the national libraries of Belgium, Canada, France, Luxemburg, Quebec and Switzerland were linking up to create a "digital francophone library".
At the same time, the Japanese have been experimenting with ebooks, produced by Sony. The ebook or Librie has electronic paper and ink (designed by Philips and E-Ink), a tiny battery, and wifi download. All the technology is in place for readers to be able to read the latest novel or archival research material at the flick of a switch. How long before we have the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène of the Correspondance générale de Napoléon on our portable telephones?
Irène Delage
editor
napoleon.org
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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
The Prince Impérial and his dog Néro, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
Carpeaux was introduced to court by the Princesse Mathilde in about 1863, and as a result of her patronage became the Prince Impérial's drawing and sculpture master. Towards the end of 1864, he was asked to do a portrait of his young pupil. Carpeaux made several portrait models of the nine-year old child, one of which was this one of the boy with his dog Néro. The addition of a dog softened what was in effect an official portrait of the young prince, and as a result the sculpture group was quite naturally to receive much public acclaim.
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Jena 1806-2006: Rendezvous in Thuringia
2006 is the year in which the German region of Thuringia will be marking the bicentenary of the twin battles of Jena/Auerstädt. In addition to a re-enactment of the battle of Jena on 14 October there are great many other cultural (and other) events planned, all set under the banner of Franco-German friendship and supported by the Fondation Napoléon. Many villages in Thuringia and southern Saxen-Anhalt are to link up in this commemoration of the twin Napoleonic battles which radically changed European politics and role of Prussia two hundred years ago. © Rendez-vous 1806-2006 DeutschFranzösischesJahr
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A Gien service dedicated to Napoleon
The porcelain manufacturers Gien are to launch a new 'Napoleon' service dedicated entirely to the emperor. The watercoloured decorations on most of the pieces are the work of the painter Arnaud d'Aunay. This very much contemporary-style service comprises 18 pieces and it retraces the difference periods in the life of Napoleon. Plate from the service © Gien
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200 YEARS AGO
On 30 March, 1806, as part of the drive to organise the Grand Empire, four decrees were presented to the Senate by order of Napoleon I. They instituted in Italy 22 "duchies, "grands fiefs' of the Empire": Dalmatia, Istria, Friuli, Cadore, Belluno, Conegliano, Treviso, Feltre, Bassano, Vicenza, Padua and Rovigo in the Kingdom of Italy; Benevento, Gaeta, Otranto, Ponte Corvo, Reggio and Tarento in the Kingdom of Naples: Parma, Piacenza (Plaisance) and Guastalla in the States of Parma; and finally,"the counties of Massa-Carrara and Garfagnana" were to be separated from the Kingdom of Italy and established as "duché grand fief" so as to be "attached" to the Principality of Lucca and Piombino which Napoleon had given to his sister Elisa and her consort Félix Bacciochi by a decree of 19 March, 1805.
And also:
Fashion: «Pearls are so "in" these days that they are preferred to diamonds. […] Combs are hardly worn, flowers are similarly out of favour and often only used to provide decoration for horses. However, certain topknots have been seen with a tightly bound bunch of flowers which covers the whole of the front. The flowers used for this are hyacinths or violets. »
Journal de Paris, 26 March 1806
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 364, 24 - 30 March, 2006
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation.
© this Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
Press review
Online article on British Anti-Slavery on the BBC History Site
WHAT'S ON
Study days
- Trafalgar, how do we remember it?, Paris, France
Conferences:
- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, Principe di Benevento, 1806-2006, Benevento, Italy
- In the embrace of France: The Law of Nations and Constitutional Law in the French Satellite States of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Age (1795-1813), Tillburg, The Netherlands
Just published
- Catalogue: La battaglia in una stanza: il papier peint di Austerlitz, ed. Giulia Gorgone and Cristina Cannelli
- People and Politics in France, 1848-1870, by Roger Price
- Il Rifugio di Venere: La villa Paolina Bonaparte a Viareggio, ed. Glauco Borella and Giulia Gorgone
- Napoleon's Mamelukes, by Ronald Pawly and Patrice Courcelle
Fairs
- The 13th International Napoleonic Fair, St Albans, UK
Exhibitions
- Treasures of the Fondation, Mexico 2006, Monterrey, Mexico
- Napoléon an intimate portrait, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
- "Battle in a sittingroom." The Austerlitz wallpaper, Museo Napoleonico, Rome, Italy
- In the Service of Napoleon. The Dutch in time of War 1792-1815, Delft, Netherlands
- "Beauty celebrating power": Vincenzo Monti in the Napoleonic period, Milan, Italy
- Louis Napoleon: at the court of the first King of Holland, 1806-1810, Arnhem, Netherlands
- Entertainments:
Thursdays at the Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
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