EIGHT LOVE LETTERS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 29 September 1933, Page 10

EIGHT LOVE LETTERS

SUM OF £4400 AT AUCTION. NAPOLEON AND. JOSEPHINE, Eight love letters written by Napoleon to Josephine -between March to June, 1796. and May, 1800, included in the sale of the library formed at ‘‘The Durdans,” Epsom, by the late Earl of lloseberry, brought £4400 at Messrs Sotheby’s, London, on June 25. The purchasers were Messrs Maggs, of Conduit Street, while the underbidder was a representative of Mr Schemer, a New York bookseller. Though Messrs Maggs would not say on whose behalf they had bought the letters, it may be suggested, says- the “Morning Post,” that they will find a resting place “somewhere in France.”

In the first letter, of uncertain date, Napoleon wrote: “Sweet and incomparable Josephine, what an extraordinary effect you have upon by heart. Mv soul is broken to pieces with sorrow and there is no rest for your sweetheart.”

On April 3, the Man of Destiny wrote: “I have received all your letters., but none has made such an impression upon me as the last. What are you thinking of beloved, to write to me in such terms You have taken from me more than my sold. You are the only thought in my life.” The longest and finest of the letters, written on paper with an engraved heading and extending to three and three-quarter folio pages, came from “Tortana, midi le 27 prairiaP s (June 15, 1796). After asking Josephine about her illness, Napoleon reproached her for not writing and begged her to come to him. He also regretted that he was not ill instead of her, and swore that if she died, he would not survive her. He assured her 1 of his love, and said that he was sure! of hers.

Eleven days later Napoleon reproached Josephine for loving her dog. Fortune, better than him, but confesses that however badly she treats him, he will always love her, though it is madness to do iso.

Following these letters, came Napoleon’s farewell epistle to Marie Louise, on leaving for Elba, dated Fontainebleau, 9 a.m.. April 20, 1814, which concludes with a kiss for the young king. This letter was given to M. de Beausset, to be handed to the Empress, but he was unable to. find her. He kept the letter, which, after passing into many ownerships, now went to Messrs Maggs for £IOOO. These letters, with many other interesting Napoleonic items, brought in £12.394. making a total of £49,033 for (the ‘Durdans” library, which was sold by order of Lady Sybil Grant, the late Earl of Roseberry’s elder dauglitei.