VALÉE, Sylvain Charles (1773-1846), maréchal de France. Ensemble de 4 longues L.A.S. Adressées à sa femme.

Very beautiful and interesting military and love correspondence: -L.A.S. Rosenberg 9 [May 1807]. 3 pp. 1/2 in-4. After mentioning the death of little Hortense, his mother's grief and various family news, he expresses his suffering at being so far from his wife, "what a difference, my friend, to be able only to write to you instead of kissing her. I remember now the days when, spying the moment of your awakening, I would carry our little Odile to you; your eyes would open and you would see before you what you hold most dear in the world, and what exists only to love you. This time of happiness will come again, and I hope we will find each other happier [...]". He continues with financial considerations, then informs her that their friend, General Maximilien-Sebastien FOY, has just married, "and having changed nothing in the tastes we know him to prefer glory to solidity, he has married the daughter of a colonel-general, M. Baraguey d'Hilliers [...]. The Emperor has signed the marriage contract. I'm not surprised, but [...] I'd be surprised if it lasted long [...]". -L.A.S. Warsaw January 3, 1807. 4 pp. large in-4. General Songis has asked for a pecuniary advantage to facilitate his appointment as colonel, and gives news of poor Pernety [General Joseph Marie Pernety] "doing the sieges of Breslau, etc. He was employed there by the Emperor himself; he often has painful chores which are occasioned by the advantage of being particularly well known to him [...]". -L.A.S. Königsberg, July 15, 1807. 1 p. in-4. Beautiful letter written one month after the Friedland victory over the Russians and 8 days after the Treaty of Tilsit marking the end of the 4th coalition. The emperor has left, followed by some of heaven's favored guests, he "gives graces in profusion, he gives goods in Poland, he treats the army leaders with great generosity. I don't know if he'll stop there; so far, we scoundrels don't feel any of this largesse [...]. I've certainly worked harder than all those who are rewarded, whoever they may be [...]". Period stains and tear from broken seal. -L.A.S. Danzig July 31 [1807]. 3 pp. in-4. New requests have been sent to the Emperor for the artillery, and he has been proposed to become "commandant of the Garde d'Honneur; I am still too new a colonel to think of the generalate [...] but the main thing is that I am well, that I still love you with all my heart, and that I am working to make you happy [...]". He has received the new epaulettes his wife sent him; military news and colleagues' assignments, etc., have been sent to him. A P.S. from Valée is enclosed. Strasbourg, September 20, 1814. 1 p. in-folio oblong. Reform leave. A fine document. Lot presented by Mathilde Lalin-Leprevost, C.N.E. expert (06 84 38 90 72).