Alain Pigeard, Editions Quatuor 1998 2 volume set over 800pp., illus, mainly colour, numerous maps.

Following his previous two works L'Armee Napoleon Jenne and Les Etoiles de Napoleon author Alain Pigeard continues to enhance his well earn a reputation with another high quality presentation.

These two volumes look at Napoleon's campaigns in a series of sumptuously illustrated chronologically arranged chapters, with almost every page having colour illustrations, either of paintings or of uniformed models or of re-enactors. Whilst the text is in French, this should not stop anglophones from enjoying a feast for the eyes, or extracting the information that they need. Whilst the price might seem excessive, it is the quality of the art paper and these illustrations for which you are paying.

Where it is relevant, each campaign also inculdes an order of battle. As might be expected, the Peninsular War, which tends to overshadow everything else in British histories of the period, only gets a small part in this work, but there are several French OB's to recompense. The 1812 Russian listing includes the Prussian and Austrian contingent's.

It is a source that really needs to be examined before deciding whether you need it on your bookshelf, as its selling point has to be the standard of the illustrations. Since it is only a limited edition run, it would be safe to assume that it will keep and increase its value. The question has to be whether it increases the reader's sum of knowledge will depend on your current library.