Auction 220 (part 1): EUROPE & OVERSEAS

Napoleonic Occupation of Palestine 1799 (March 11): Printed letter-sheet headed 'Liberté, Égalité / Au Quartier Général de' written from JAFFA on 21 Ventose Year 7, addressed to the 'Ordonnateur en chef, Daure' (at this time in charge of Transport), signed at base 'Bonaparte'. An extremely rare document, especially so from Jaffa which had fallen to his small force of between 8'000 and 13'000 men on March 7, 1799. Napoleon Bonaparte was in Jaffa for a period of just four days as by the 18th he was already beseiging Acre having famously visited (or not, depending whom one believes) his Troops suffering from Bubonic Plague in hospital in Jaffa: the painting by Antoine Jean Gros, now in the Louvre depicts Napoleon visiting the sick on the very day this letter was signed. A remarkable and extremely rare doucment from this Campaign.
Catalogue 220: Europe & Overseas