104. ANNUAIRE HISTORIQUE UNIVERSEL, or Political... Lot 104

104. ANNUAIRE HISTORIQUE UNIVERSEL, or Political History for 1840. Paris, Thoisnier Desplaces, 1841. In-8, viii-586-(2 blank)-343-(1 blank) pp, one folding printed table out of text, half red long-grained morocco, smooth spine decorated with fillets and chains, boards covered with red chagrined paper with gilt crowned numeral in the centre, small wormholes on the spines, a restored start of the spine (period binding).CHRONIQUE POLITICO-DIPLOMATIQUE FRANCO-EUROPEENNE ANNUELLE, founded by the publicist Charles-Louis Lesur (1770-1849), historian and jurist, former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Relations at the time of Talleyrand, author of literary works but above all of essays in political and social sciences. He wrote all the volumes of the Annuaire historique universel from 1818 to 1830, and then supervised the writing of others from 1830 to 1842, notably the publicists Victor Rosenwald (a militant republican) and Hippolyte Desprez (a future diplomat under the Second Empire and the Third Republic). The publication would then continue until 1861. "The emperor himself was before them!" THE MAJOR STAGES OF THE RETURN TO FRANCE OF THE DEADLY DEPUTE OF HIS EPOUX NAPOLEON I: the editors of this Yearbook detail the mission of the French commissioners sent to the island of St. Helena on board the Belle-Poule, until their return to the port of Cherbourg (pp. It is difficult to describe the anxiety and emotion with which those present awaited the moment that would reveal to them all that death had left of Napoleon. In spite of the singular state of preservation of the tomb and the coffins, they could hardly hope to find a few shapeless remains whose less perishable parts of the costume alone would have assured their identity. But when, by the hand of Dr. Guillard, the satin sheet was lifted, an indefinable movement of surprise and tenderness broke out among the spectators, and most of them burst into tears. The emperor himself was before them! The features of the face, though altered, were perfectly recognizable, the hands were perfectly beautiful, the costume so well known had suffered little, and the colors were easily distinguished, the epaulettes, the decorations, the hat, seemed entirely preserved, the pose itself was full of abandon, and except for the debris of the satin trim, which covered, as with a very fine gauze, several parts of the uniform, we could have believed Napoleon lying on his bed of parade [....] " Louis-Napoleon, no doubt forgetting that genius is not transmitted by blood... ". THE "ATTACK OF BOULOGNE", AN EVIL ATTEMPT OF A COUP D'ETAT WHICH PUT THE FUTURE NAPOLEON III IN PRISON (August 1840): "While the remains, one might say the relics, of a great man were being collected at St. Helena to be returned to the country whose glory he had carried so high, a prince of his family, Louis-Napoleon, no doubt forgetting that genius is not transmitted with blood, tried again to impose himself on France. His attempt on Boulogne (August 6), accompanied by unserious means, failed again: unfortunately blood flowed again, and, repulsed by the very population of Boulogne, the prince was arrested and brought before the Court of Peers immediately convened for this purpose; it condemned him to life imprisonment, and his accomplices had to undergo punishments graduated according to the part they had taken in the attack" (p. 307 of the Directory). The trial that followed the arrest is reported in detail, accused by accused (pp. 268-291 of the "Chronicle" in the appendix). The editors also list the deaths of several illustrious men who had a close relationship with Marie-Louise: the death of King Frederick William III of Prussia, a great adversary of Napoleon I (June 1840), that of Lucien Bonaparte (July 1840), and that of Marshal Macdonald (October 1840). EXAMPLE WITH THE CROWNED CHIFFRE OF MARIE-LOUISE (iron absent from OHR).