Memoirs of the Marchioness de Laroche Jaquelein. With a map of the theatre of war in La Vendee. Translated from the French. by La Rochejaquelein, Marie-Louise-Victoire de Donnissan, marquise de, 1772-1857 - 1816

Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1816. Octavo, pp [4], (iii)-viii, (9)-406, [2] + folding map frontispiece. Original boards, untrimmed. Original spine perished, replaced with plain rice paper. Boards have soiling, inner margins skinned from removed tape, wear to outer corners (one bruise and soft); front inner hinge repaired with rice paper; first blank creased; tan soil spot to lower outer corners of margins of early leaves; text clean and unworn otherwise. Armorial bookplate at front of James Leslie. In all, a good copy, tight in the binding, complete. "Marie Louise Victoire de Donnissan, marquise de La Rochejacquelein... was born at Versailles on 25 October 1772, belonged to a court family and was the god-daughter of Madame Victoire, the daughter of Louis XV. At the age of seventeen she married the marquis de Lescure, whom she accompanied during the Revolt in the Vendée. After his death, she went through various adventures recorded in her memoirs, first published at Bordeaux in 1815. They are of extreme interest, and give a remarkable picture of the war and the fortunes of the Royalists. She saved much of her own property and her first husband's, when a conciliatory policy was adopted. After her second marriage to the cousin of her first husband, she lived with her new husband on her estates, both refusing all offers to serve in any capacity under Napoleon. In 1814, they took an active part in the Royalist movement in and about Bordeaux. In 1815 the marquis endeavoured to bring about another Vendan rising for Louis XVIII, and was shot in a skirmish with the forces of Napoleon at the Pont des Marthes on 4 June 1815. The marquise died at Orléans in 1857." - Wikipedia. The peasants of La Vendée rebelled against the revolutionary government 1793-96. The original owner may well have been James Leslie (1786-1783), legislator and Tory Senator from Quebec, Montreal businessman. one of the founders of the Bank of Montreal, and veteran of the War of 1812, . First US edition. Hardcover.