CHARLES-LUCIEN BONAPARTE, PRINCE (1803-1857), AUTOGRAPH Discours, allocutions et opinions dans le conseil des députés et l’Assemblée constituante de Rome en 1848 et 1849. Leide, Brill, 1857.
Lot 91
Sold
In-8.
Contemporary green shagreen binding, triple gilt fillet border, large gilt imperial eagle at the corners, dedication in gilt letters on four lines in the centre of the front cover, decorated spine, repeated emblem, lace binding, i moiré ivory silk endpapers and doublures , gilt edges. Some foxing. Lining and endpapers oxidised. Head and top edges restored, spine slightly faded.
Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to his younger son Napoléon-Charles Bonaparte (1839–1899).
Gilt dedication on upper cover, stamped in four lines: ‘À mon fils Napoléon 29 juillet 1857’. The binding is decorated at the corners with the emblematic imperial eagle overlapping a thunderbolt.
On the first blank leaf is an autograph inscription signed by the prince, resonating with the illustrious legacy of the Bonaparte dynasty:
‘Fils d’hommes si illustres, Que Dieu vous protège ! L. B.’ [Son of such illustrious men, may God protect you! L. B.]
On the first blank page is an autographed inscription signed by the prince, which, in light of the fabulous destiny of the Bonaparte dynasty, takes on its full meaning: ‘Son of such illustrious men, may God protect you! L. B.’
First edition of the French translation.
Prince Charles-Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857), Prince of Canino and Musignano and nephew of the Emperor, pursued a political career while also establishing an international reputation in ornithology, alongside Audubon. A committed democrat, he played an active role in the Roman uprising of 1847-1849 and in the creation of the Roman Republic, serving as a deputy in its Constituent Assembly. Following the Republican army’s defeat by French troops sent by his cousin Louis-Napoléon in July 1849, he was forced into exile. Louis-Napoléon would later become Napoleon III.
His younger son, Napoléon-Charles Bonaparte, pursued a military career under the Second Empire, first joining the Mexican Expedition (1861–1867), and later fighting in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.