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THIS MONTH'S BOOK
That Sweet Enemy: The British and the French from the Sun King to the Present, by R.P. Tombs and Isabelle Tombs
Though this is not a book specifically about Napoleon it does (of course) have a long central section on Napoleon I and Napoleon III is not forgotten. The format too recommends itself to Napoleonic readers: the English viewpoint given by the British academic husband and the French is given by the French wife.
(c) Heinemann
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NEW IN THE LIBRARY: WATSON'S NAPOLEON'S DEATH MASK
Every week, many new books enter the Bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre-Fondation Napoléon. This week we highlight two books of particular interest to those keen on the St Helena period: Watson's excellent but opinionated The Story of Napoleon's death-mask : , told from the original documents by G. L. de St. M. Watson... - ; London: J. Lane, 1915 and A Polish exile with Napoleon embodying the letters of captain Piontkowski to general Sir Robert Wilson and many documents from the Lowe papers, the Colonial office records, the Wilson manuscripts, the Capel Lofft correspondence and the French and Genevese archives hitherto unpublished, by G. L. de St. M. Watson,... - ; London and New York : Harper and brothers, 1912.
To see the complete list of recent accessions to the library, click here.
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200 YEARS AGO
Continuation of the Polish campaign of 1806
On 6 December, 1806, the corps led by Ney crossed the Vistula at Thorn. Colonel Savary crossed the river with the 14e léger, the elites companies of the 76e de ligne and the 6e léger, aided by some Polish boatmen under sustained enemy fire. "This affair involved an extraordinary incident. The river, which is 400 toises wide at this point, was filled with ice floes; the boats bearing our avant-garde were held back by the ice and could not advance. On the other bank, Polish boatmen threw themselves into the middle of a hail of shot to free the boats. The Prussian boatmen tried to prevent them, and a fist fight ensued between them. The Polish boatmen threw the Prussians into the water and guided our boats to the right bank. The emperor asked the names of these brave men so as to reward them."
(3rd Bulletin of the Grande Armée, Posen, 7 December, 1806).
On 2 December, 1806, a decree was signed at Posen establishing a competition for the "building of a temple to the glory of the French army on the site of the Madeleine".
For further details see our file on the Madeleine church
On 5 December, 1806, a Te Deum was sung at midday in Notre-Dame, in thanksgiving for the victory at Jena.
(Moniteur, 8 December, 1806)
150 YEARS AGO
International politics
On 2 December, 1856, in Bayonne, French and Spanish plenipotentiaries signed a treaty regulating once and for the problems related to the Franco-Spanish frontier. «This international agreement, made after lengthy negotiations […] gives a happy conclusion to difficulties dating from 1455 »
(Moniteur universel, 7 December, 1856)
Architecture - Railways
At the beginning of December 1856, the Viaduc de Chaumont was completed carrying the railway mainline from Paris to Mulhouse across the deep Suize valley (Haute Marne).
The viaduct was 600 metres (slightly more than 1/3 of a mile) long and 50 metres (165 feet) above the lowest point of the valley.
(Moniteur universel, 5 December, 1856)
Opera
On 6 December, 1856, the opera-version of Alexandre Dumas' novel La Dame aux camélias, in other words Giuseppe' Verdi's La Traviata, was given its the French première in the Théâtre des Italiens. The world première had taken place three years earlier at the Fenice, in Venice."
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 393, 1-7 December, 2006
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© 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
- Napoleonic Society of America, Member's Bulletin #82, Summer/Fall 2006
JUST PUBLISHED
- CORUM Michael, UFFINDELL Andrew, On the Fields of Glory: The Battlefields of the 1815 Campaign
- UFFINDELL, Andrew, The Eagle's Last Triumph: Napoleon's Victory at Ligny, June 1815
WHAT'S ON
Auctions:
- Online "Ebay-type" Auction of the Weiner Napoleonic Collection
Exhibitions:
- Manet and the Execution of Maximilian, MomA, New York, USA
- Champignon Bonaparte - illustrations by Gilles Bachelet
- Dagoty in Paris - the Empress Josephine's porcelain manufactory, Reuil-Malmaison, France
- Napoleon III and Europe - 1856, Paris, France
- Napoleon, an intimate portrait, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
- Public Portraits, Private Portraits 1770-1830, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Louis Napoleon: at the court of the first King of Holland, 1806-1810, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Got a problem with the letter? Try the home page: http://www.napoleon.org
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