NAPOLEON L’Hymen et la naissance, ou Poésies en l’honneur de leurs majestés impériales et royales.- Recueil de poésies pour la naissance du Roi de Rome.

First collective edition of these poems composed to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Napoleon and the birth of the King of Rome.

The authors include Charles Joseph Loeillard d’Avrigny (1760-1823), Antoine-Vincent Arnault (1766-1834), Charles-Hubert Millevoye (1782-1816), Pierre Marie François Louis Baour-Lormian (1770-1854), Alexandre Soumet (1788-1845), or even Casimir Delavigne (1793-1843).

A large paper copy on wove paper, complete with the two frontispieces after Anne-Louis Girodet Trioson, which are only found in copies of the deluxe issue.

The choice of Anne-Louis Girodet for the frontispiece is a logical one. In 1801, Girodet produced L'Apothéose des héros français morts pour la patrie pendant la guerre de la Liberté (The Apotheosis of French Heroes Who Died for Their Homeland During the War of Liberty). This work, commissioned by Napoleon to decorate the Château de la Malmaison, is a tribute to his generals who died during his campaigns. They are welcomed to Paradise by the mythological character Ossian, who was very much in vogue at the turn of the century. Although the design of the frontispiece is much simpler, it nevertheless invites us to contemplate the grandeur of the empire.

Napoleon appears as a Caesar, wearing a number of regalia such as a sword, a sceptre and the great orb at his feet. All of this is accompanied by a strong religious iconography, reinforced by the Chrism, the monogram of Christ placed on the altar at the centre of the illustration.

Occasional foxing, else a fine copy, well preserved in an elegant binding by Bozérian.

Provenance : Henri Beraldi (book plate, sale III, lot 226)