Les Trophees De La France

Paris: J. Leroy, 1907. Limited Edition. Quarto. Limited to 525 copies. The present copy is unnumbered. 154 pages, with 22 plates (some in color, some folding). According to Commandant Verillon, the French took 42 British Army Colours during the campaigns of 1792 to 1815. Verillon divides them into the following campaigns: 1792; 1794-5 (Sambre et Meuse); Campaign of Ireland, 1798 (Castlebar); the Wars in Spain, the Campaign of 1814 (Bergen-op-Zoom) One of the problems that this work partially solves is that the various upheavals have left an uneven record though here some are included for the first time. During the Empire those retained by Marshals and Generals were placed in Les Invalides. When the Allies approached Paris in 1814, Marshal Srkurier had them all burnt and the debris thrown into the River Seine. According to Verilllon, 1299 colours, including 5 British ones, escape and in 1827 they were placed in the Musee de l'Armee. During the Revolution of 1830, fifteen Colours--one of them British--were destroyed by the mob and in the same year the remainder were hung in the Church of St. Louis. During the funeral rites of Marshal Sebastiani in August 1851, most of these were destroyed in a fire cause by a spark from one of the candles. This volume has carefully preserved what was available at the opening of the 20th Century. Bound in full green morocco, board edges ruled in gilt and with a decorative roll in blind, raised bands with compartment s lettered and decorated in gilt, original stiff paper wrappers bound in, top edge gilt, housed within a cloth covered slipcase.