Author: Proctor Patterson Jones
Pages: 444
Illustrations: 25 color and 7 black and white photographs, 15 photographs of veterans in uniform, 255 color paintings, 236 black and white paintings and illustrations, 17 other tints, handwriting samples, and document reproductions.
Maps: 15 maps and floorplans.
Footnotes: none
Appendices: 9, including Napoleon's Family Tree, Diagnosis of Napoleon's health, and Duchies awarded by Napoleon.
Bibliography: None.
Index: 501 entries
Publisher: Proctor Jones, distributed by random House
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Cloth (oversized hardback) with high quality paper. Page size is 10.5" x 10.5"
ISBN: 0-679-41458-4
Price: $95.00
Summary: An incredible labor of love, this is an overwhelming visual guide to Napoleon the Emperor and the man during his Imperial rule. It is also a very fine record of Napoleon's Paris. the text is comprised with an extensive selection of memoirs from Baron de Meneval and Constant Wairy, the first valet of Napoleon.
This is an amazing visual archive which did not fail to awe this reviewer. Perhaps the New Your Times Review of Books said it best: "A Napoleonic museum between covers."
It is a first rate collector's item for Napoleonic bibliophiles. The text comes from English translations of Constant Wairy's Recollections and from the memoirs of Baron Claude-Francois de Meneval, Napoleon's personal secretary. Both writers do in fact provide wonderful glimpses behind the scenes of Napoleon during his reign. The reader gathers a sense of the man that military histories tend to gloss or or ignore.
You will not find orders of battle, nor critiques of his generalship, nor how long it takes to form a square. However, if you have an interest in Napoleon the man and ruler, and you have an appreciation for Napoleonic art, this book is highly recommended. Proctor Jones deserves to be saluted for the astonishing effort that went into compiling, editing, and producing this apparent life's masterwork.
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