ART OF VERIFYING THE DATES (The) of historical... - Lot 184 - Osenat

Lot 184
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ART OF VERIFYING THE DATES (The) of historical... - Lot 184 - Osenat
ART OF VERIFYING THE DATES (The) of historical facts, inscriptions, chronicles, and other ancient monuments, before the Christian era. In Paris, by Moreau, 1819. In-8, (4)-xlvi-448-(2 of which the last is blank) pp. in brown shagreened calf, smooth spine decorated, marbled edges, worn binding with missing title-pieces and a dull corner, wetness on the first leaves, worm work, more important on the last 50 pages (period binding). First volume only, including notably the general chronology and astronomical remarks. FAMOUS ERUDITION WORK OF THE BENEDICTINES OF SAINT-MAUR. The original edition was published in 1750 by Dom Charles Clémencet and Dom Ursin Durand on the basis of the work of Dom Maur Dantine, then an enlarged edition was procured in 1770 by Dom François Clément. The genealogist Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais took on the task of reworking and continuing this work, and published the 19 volumes of the present edition in 1818 and 1819. ONE OF THE BOOKS OFFERED BY LADY HOLLAND TO NAPOLEON I for his library in St. Helena. It bears a double ex-dono: on the verso of the first white endpaper, "Napoleon, from E. V. Holland. By Lord Bathurst's permission", and, in the upper margin of p. i, "Napoleon, from E. V. Holland". HER EXALTED ADMIRRESS, LADY HOLLAND (1771-1845) was born Elizabeth Vassal, of a wealthy Jamaican planter family. A woman of character, authoritarian and provocative, she divorced her husband Lord Holland and was therefore forbidden to appear at Court, but kept a posh literary salon in her London home, where Lord Byron and Wordsworth frequented, for example. Her husband Henry Richard Fox, Baron Holland, a Whig MP and nephew of the great Fox, was an opponent of the Tory ministries of the revolutionary and imperial era, but was not unanimously supported by his own side because of his Napoleonic tendencies. She herself met Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and, without falling in love at first sight, gradually developed a real passion for him: from the time of his exile on the island of Elba, she wrote to him in a passionate manner and sent him letters. During the Hundred Days, she travelled in Europe and was able to re-embark for England thanks to a passport issued by Napoleon I. In the same year, she had a bust of him by Antonio Canova installed in her house. From 1815 onwards, Holland House in London became a hotbed of support for the emperor on St Helena, and Lady Holland met Hudson Lowe twice to try to plead his case. As Governor of the island, he accepted her consignments of books for the exile's library, perhaps out of respect for her, more likely so as not to provoke her parliamentary husband and put his minister offside. Lord Holland did not fail, however, to publish the letter Napoleon I sent him in 1817 denouncing the conditions of his detention. In gratitude, the Emperor bequeathed to Lady Holland the snuff box with an antique cameo that he had received from Pope Pius VI. FROM THE LIBRARY OF NAPOLEON I AT SAINT HELENE (ex-libris stamp on the title). It was the grand marshal Bertrand who, on the island, made the handmade stamp of this stamp with the Napoleonic arms, while any reminder of the imperial dignity was forbidden by Hudson Lowe - this stamp is today preserved in the museum of Malmaison. A great reader, the emperor collected more than 3,300 works at Longwood: nearly 600 from the castles of Malmaison and Rambouillet, a few dozen taken from Rochefort, about 1,900 bought by the English, about 280 ordered from London, about 100 brought by the abbot Buonavita, and finally 475 sent by Lady Holland. In spite of her declared opinions, she was able to obtain permission to send items to the exile, granted by Earl Henry Bathurst, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, who was in charge of St. Helena. Provenance: library of the Capuchin monastery of Le Mans (2 ex-libris stamps on the false title and one on the title).
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