Galerie des Uniformes des Gardes Nationales de France
Paris: Ambrose Tardieu, Mme. V. Courcier, 1817. Item #06736
From the Library of Marshal Ney's Son
Tardieu's Beautiful Gallery of the Uniforms of the French National Guard
TARDIEU, Ambroise. Galerie des Uniformes des Gardes Nationales de France… Dédiée à Son Altesse Royale. Paris: Ambroise Tardieu; Mme. V. Courcier, imprimeur, et al., 1817.
First edition.
Quarto (10 1/8 x 6 5/8 inches; 258 x 169 mm.). [iv], 32 pp. Colored equestrian frontispiece portrait of the Comte d'Artois, engraved portrait, and twenty-seven engraved costume plates (four double-page folding and three uncolored), illustrating the uniforms of the National Guards of France. A few occasional minor marks, otherwise an excellent copy.
All leaves mounted on stubs.
Late nineteenth-century (ca. 1885–1900) full black morocco, covers blocked in gilt with the arms of Louis Napoléon Michel Ney, second Duke of Elchingen, smooth spine ruled and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Binder's stamp, apparently reading "J. Lemarbeley," on the verso of the front free endpaper. With the engraved armorial bookplate of Louis Napoléon Michel Ney (1803–1854), second Duke of Elchingen and Prince de la Moskowa. Housed in the matching morocco-edged slipcase.
An unusually handsome copy of one of the earliest and most attractive costume books devoted to the uniforms of the French National Guard, preserved in a contemporary armorial binding from one of the most celebrated military libraries of nineteenth-century France.
Published only two years after the fall of Napoleon and during the early years of the Bourbon Restoration, Tardieu's work records the reorganization of the National Guard under the restored monarchy. The finely engraved plates depict officers and guardsmen from throughout France in carefully rendered contemporary uniforms, while the accompanying text describes the organization and appearance of the various corps. The splendid equestrian portrait of the Comte d'Artois - later King Charles X - reflects the close identification of the National Guard with the restored Bourbon regime.
The present copy possesses an exceptional provenance. It comes from the library of Louis Napoléon Michel Ney, second Duke of Elchingen and Prince de la Moskowa, eldest son of Marshal Michel Ney (1769–1815), the legendary "Bravest of the Brave." Although his father was executed in December 1815 following the Second Restoration, Louis Napoléon eventually succeeded to the restored family honours and assembled a distinguished library, many of whose books were bound with his arms. The association is particularly appropriate, linking one of the most attractive early Restoration costume books with one of the greatest military families of nineteenth-century France.
Its survival in the library of Marshal Ney's son is especially evocative, for the work celebrates the military establishment of the Bourbon Restoration issued scarcely two years after Ney's execution in December 1815.
Early French military costume books of the Restoration rank among the most attractive productions of French Romantic illustration and are increasingly difficult to obtain in fine condition. Copies preserved in deluxe armorial bindings with distinguished military provenance are of the greatest rarity, particularly when accompanied by their original slipcases.
Rare: OCLC/RLIN locate just four copies in libraries and institutions worldwide: Harvard University (MA, US) & Brown University (RI, US); Bibliotheque Nationale de France and Mediatheque de Montpelier (France).
The association could scarcely be more appropriate, linking one of the earliest illustrated records of the restored French National Guard with the library of the son of Napoleon's most celebrated marshal.
References: Colas 2856; Hiler p. 834.
Price: $3,500.00