SOUVENIRS D'UN OFFICIER DE LA GRANDE ARMEE

Paris: Librairie Plon, 1923. First Edition. Signed presentation on a front blank page: “Katherine Chamberlain from Maria G. Messenger. Xmas 1923.” Maria ("Minnie") Gerard Messenger [1849-1937] was a philanthropist from Great Neck, Long Island. She was the daughter of Brooklyn merchant and banker, Thomas Messenger [1810-1881]. An invalid for the last 26 years of her life, she lived with her companion and fellow philanthropist, Miss Elizabeth Chamberlain, at "The Orchards" in Long Island. Messenger was also a book collector and her library was sold at auction in 1938. Her extensive collection of women’s bookplates was donated to the Great Neck Public Library in 1933 and is now housed at the Grolier Club. The book may be presented to a relative of Messenger’s companion, Elizabeth Chamberlain. Jean-Baptiste Auguste Barrès [1784–1848] was a Velite hunter officer in the Napoleonic Imperial Guard. He wrote these memoirs, “Souvenirs d'un Officier de la Grande Armée,” published in 1923 by his grandson, the writer Maurice Barrès. 12mo., red quarter-morocco leather & marbled boards, gilt-tooled spine, marbled endpapers. Binding by Brentano's, New York. Text in French.. Near fine (bright; minor rubbing).