223 - [NAPOLEON] BALZAC, Honoré de, and LALAUZE, Alphonse. The Emperor’s Story, as Told in a Barn by an Old Soldier.

[NAPOLEON] BALZAC, Honoré de, and LALAUZE, Alphonse. The Emperor’s Story, as Told in a Barn by an Old Soldier. A superb first edition with black-and-white illustrations, enhanced by an original watercolor signed by Alphonse Lalauze, in a luxurious full Chambolle-Duru morocco binding. Paris, Henri Leclerc, 1904. Small quarto (240 x 190 mm), full green long-grain morocco, spine with raised bands highlighted by a double gilt fillet, panels adorned with a framing design featuring a gilded imperial bee at the center, author and title in gilded letters, date at the bottom, covers framed by a wide frieze dotted with imperial bees and the crowned letter “N” at the corners, ornamented head and edge caps, inner band of the same morocco leather set within a wide gilded frame and bearing the bookbinder’s signature, marbled paper endpapers and linings, edges gilt on endpapers, gold-printed covers and spine preserved, in a bordered slipcase. Binding signed by Chambolle-Duru. VIII and 59 pages, 14 original color watercolors by Alphonse Lalauze, etched by Adolphe Lalauze, including one as a frontispiece and one title vignette. Spine sun-faded; slight wear on the edges of the slipcase. A beautiful illustrated edition of this text, first published in 1841 before Balzac incorporated it as a chapter in his novel *A Country Doctor*, in which an old veteran of the Grande Armée gives a humorous account of the Napoleonic epic, with a cheeky wit that reflects the Bonapartist fervor so widespread among the working classes at the time. Introduced by a preface by Henry Houssaye, it is illustrated with 14 vivid watercolors by Alphonse Lalauze, etched by his father Adolphe Lalauze, including one as a frontispiece, one on the title page, and 12 placed within the text. The print run was limited to 300 numbered copies; this one is one of the first 100 copies printed on Marais vellum, with a separate set of black etchings printed from the master plate, which the engraver completed after the color print run. A precious copy enhanced by a superb original color watercolor signed by Alphonse Lalauze and dated 1905. A beautifully crafted copy, in a signed full-leather binding of the period.