Bonaparte and the French People Under His Consulate
London: Tipper and Richards, 1804. Octavo. Item #027826
2nd edition. xvi, 253 pages. Schlabrendorf's attack upon Napoleon questioned his legitimacy. The manuscript was smuggled out of France and printed in German. Tallyrand wanted to suppress it but most French authorities disregarded it at first. It was reviewed by Goethe (who already had admired Schlabrendorf for his study of Kant) and it enjoyed a wide circulation. When, Napoleon's inner circle found out how virulent the atttack was, they began a search for the printers and publishers though Schlabrendorf himself was never found. It was simultanously being translated into English in two quite diffrent editions both by the publishing firm of Tipper and Richards. Clearly both translations are based on the German original though they differ in style and in a number of facts as well as added footnotes and the small addenda of the 2nd edition at the end which states that more will have to be printed later. The book created a stir throughout Europe that was also published in the U.S. that same year and again in Hamburg in 1806 (though the printed name for the place of publication was Petersburg to avoid the search and arrest which embraced all the countries Napoleon controlled). Clearly, Napoleon's threat to the whole of Europe meant danger to anyone who would harbor Schlabrendorf or his allies and soon a search for the printers and publishers led to their being tried in France and executed though the author escaped their search. This rare variant has the major details in agreement but includes information on publishers not in the first edition. Page 86 lists all the French journals omitted in the first edition as well as numerous other names not printed in the first edition. His quote from the Decade Philosophique is entirely different as well as other French sources cited in this edition. Consequently, since the translation and many issues are different, a more thorough analysis would require an examination not only of the original German edition issued in early 1804 but a knowledge of the political, literary and philosophical names cited (see Philipp Hunnekuhl. "Literary transmission, exile and oblivion: Gustav von Schlabrendorf and Henry Crabb Robinson" (PDF). Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture. Charles University, Faculty of Arts Press, Prague. pp.47-59 [2019]). Henry Crabb Robinson (see DNB) was the original translator of the first edition. The second edition is remarkably rare and how it differs from the original has still to be carefully compared. A very nice copy from the library of Alfred S. Austrian (1870-1932) who was a Chicago lawyer for the White Sox. Comiskey was aided and abetted by Austrian during the Black Sox Affair. And, of collector Walter L. Darling with their bookplates.Bound by Zaehnsdorf in full red polished calf , boards double ruled in gilt, raised bands, brown morocco spine label gilt, all other compartments stamps with bees and eagles within fully git decorated frames, inner gilt denteels, marbled endpapers, very nice without foxing.
Price: $575.00