Guerre d'Orient. CAMPAGNES d'EGYPTE et de SYRIE 1798-1799.

(NAPOLEON's Memoirs) Guerre d'Orient. CAMPAGNES d'EGYPTE et de SYRIE 1798-1799. Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de Napoléon dictes par lui-méme a Sainte-Heléne, et publiés par le Général Bertrand. Paris: au Comptour des Imprimeurs-Unis, 1847. Three volumes, including a folio atlas with 18 double-page maps by Alexandre Moisy, also including a partially printed proof duplicate of map 11: Siége de Saint-Jean-de-d'Acre laid inside rear cover (split at center fold). 8vo, [iii], lv 406pp + errata - [iii] 455pp + errata; both volumes bound with original printed front and rear wrappers, later blue cloth with gilt-titled spines, ex-libris label Mario e Fiammetta Witt to front pastedowns, the atlas volume in gilt leather-backed marbled boards (spine lightly chipped at ends, scuffed at ribs), the title-page with PRESENTATION INSCRIPTION at the top: "A Mr Rapette souvenir affectueux Genl Bertrand".

First and only edition of Napoleon's memoirs during his French campaign in Egypt and Syria as dictated to his general and grand maréchal du palais Henri-Gatien Bertrand (1773-1844) during his exile at St. Helena (1815-21). Bertrand was the only companion in exile with Napoleon to have participated in this earlier campaign. Its publication 26 years after Napoleon's death was due to the initiative of Bertrand's son General Henri Alexandre Arthur Bertrand who inscribed it to its first owner.

The two volumes of text present an ample, if subjective account of these famous military campaigns, enriched with transcripts of numerous official documents and letters relating to the events described. The 18 maps are mostly in direct connection with the campaign. Including a general map of the south-eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, a map of the Mediterranean with the movements of the French and British fleets, a map of Egypt, a map of Syria and the Middle East, maps of the invasion of Malta, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of the Pyramids, the Siege of Acre (with an engraved veduta of the city), the Battle of Mount Tabor, and the Battle of Aboukir. Four maps of parts of Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands represent additional theatres of War during the Second Coalition in 1799.