Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) - Lot 1072

Lot n° 1072
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30000 - 40000 EUR
Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) - Lot 1072
Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) + autograph MANUSCRIPT, [Notes on the Field Fortification Profiles], [1818]; booklet of 19 sheets, 31 infol. pages. in pencil (2 in ink; watermarks Iping 1813, Stacey Wise 1818, C R 1815, Golding & Snelgrove 1815, W 1815, T Edmonds 1816, and the "Britannia"), bound with a pink silk ribbon sealed with a red wax seal to the arms of Count Bertrand ["Liasse n° 3"]; under red morocco slipcase. Very important working notes for the Essay on Field Fortification, which Napoleon had undertaken on St. Helena. Preparatory notes for the great military work that Napoleon had undertaken on St. Helena. These notes concern the construction of field works, the profile and size of the embrasures, benches with explanation and solution to certain drawbacks, but also the number and composition of the brigades . At the head of the manuscript, Napoleon indicated that these notes seemed to him to fulfil the conditions requested by Bertrand that very morning: "These 2 profiles fulfil it seems to me the conditions requested by Bertrand this morning. The profile of the 2 braye is 7P6P and thus 9 feet the bench of the 3rd braye the distance of the 2 lines of fire is 6T [...] We want more lattitude for the rifle [...] Suppose that a man rises 3 inches above the crest of the parapet which is 4p.3 or aims his shot at the inner edge he will have an artificial range of 6P per line"... Etc. Two DIAGRAMS explain these notes. On the 3rd page, a sectional drawing of a bastion (in ink and pencil) with indication of its dimensions. Followed by eight pages of notes and calculations on the location, composition and weapons of infantry and cavalry battalions, with the indication "chapter V of the arms"... Then come important considerations on the architecture of VAUBAN's field works, on the profiles, brayes, ditches, enclosures, palisades, etc., with a second SCHEME of fortification. PROVENANCE Archives of General BERTRAND; then succession Eugène ROSSIGNOL (22-23 May
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