LUTYENS (ENGLEBERT). Autograph letter signed,... - Lot 191 - Osenat

Lot 191
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500 - 800 EUR
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Result : 1 875EUR
LUTYENS (ENGLEBERT). Autograph letter signed,... - Lot 191 - Osenat
LUTYENS (ENGLEBERT). Autograph letter signed, in English, to Gideon Gorrequer. Longwood on the island of St. Helena, April 10, 1821. 1 p. 1/2 in-8, one margin of the blank sheet trimmed with trace of tab, two small marginal tears, one of which affecting a letter. LETTER WRITTEN 25 DAYS BEFORE THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON I. "Count Montholon sat up with gen[era]l Bonaparte last night. The same as the night before. He mentioned to me that the gen[era]l had passed a better night than he had for some time. I have forwarded a letter from count M[ontholon] for Europe... "Translation: "Count Montholon watched General Bonaparte last night. Just like the night before. He told me that it was the best night the general had spent for some time. I sent a letter from the Count de Montholon to Europe... "BRITISH ORDINANCE OFFICER AT LONGWWOD, CAPTAIN LUTYENS (1784-1830) had earned his stripes fighting the French in Spain. He disembarked at St. Helena in April 1819 with his regiment, and was appointed officer at Longwood on 10 February 1820. There he maintained courteous relations with the exile colony, but was relieved of his duties by Hudson Lowe on 15 April 1821, following a minor incident: the emperor sensing his end was near gave a book to the officers' mess of Captain Lutyens' regiment, and Captain Lutyens was slow to account for it, although the book was further marked "Emperor Napoleon". On 16 May 1821, the Count of Montholon informed Englebert Lutyens that the emperor had bequeathed him, out of his will, a pair of pistols (which he would receive only in 1818), while the wife of Grand Marshal Bertrand gave him a lock of Napoleon I's hair. His letters and reports are a major source on life at Longwood for the year 1820 when Grand Marshal Bertrand did not keep his notebooks. MAJOR GORREQUER (1777-1841), HUDSON LOWE'S AIDE DE CAMP AT SAINTE-HELENE, had already served under the latter, who sent him to the island to be in charge of his correspondence and the material problems of Longwood. He kept a locked diary in which he drew a fierce satirical picture of the islanders, both English and French: the people mentioned are given telling nicknames, such as "Mach" ("Machiavelli") for Hudson Lowe, "Shrug" ("shrug") for Grand Marshal Bertrand, or "Buggiardo" ("liar") for Count de Montholon
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