Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Volume 09

Louis Constant WairyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.9

Word count: 159K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Volume 09 by Louis Constant WairyAuthor: Wairy, Louis Constant, 1778-1845,Language: English, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Dec 1, 2002

Editor's review

This volume is the ninth installment of Wairy's firsthand memoir. Its value lies in presenting, from the perspective of Napoleon's personal valet, the minutiae of the emperor's daily routine, court etiquette, and life on campaign, offering corroboration for official histories. Its strength is the narrator's long proximity to Napoleon, yielding detailed observations of his temperament, speech habits, and daily arrangements that fill gaps in official records. Readers should note the memoir's personal bias and the distortions of retrospective recollection, and read with a critical eye. It suits as supplementary material for Napoleonic studies and for readers interested in early nineteenth-century French court life who want texture and immediacy after reading general histories. The English text is moderate in length and can be read in sections.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History specialists studying Napoleon's life who need firsthand corroborating sources
Cultural-history enthusiasts interested in French court daily life and valet systems
Advanced readers who have read general Napoleonic histories and want private-perspective detail
Learners who wish to train historical-text reading skills with the English original

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic campaign analysis or military strategy discussion
Scholarly researchers who prefer rigorously annotated and source-critical editions
Beginners who want a complete, continuous biography rather than installment fragments

Reading tips

Read earlier volumes in the series or a concise Napoleon biography first to establish a timeline and event framework
Mark passages involving people and events, then check them against formal history entries afterward
Use this volume as supplementary material, reading a chapter or two at a time rather than straight through
Watch for the narrator's stance and memory biases, noting doubtful or exaggerated points for analysis

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Was this book written by Napoleon himself?

No. The author is Louis Constant Wairy, who served as Napoleon's personal valet; the book is his recollection as an eyewitness of the emperor's private life and court observations. It is a memoir from a valet's perspective, not Napoleon's own account.

Can I read Volume 09 without having read the earlier volumes?

Yes, but it may feel disjointed. This is one volume of a memoir published in installments, and events and figures are often interconnected across volumes. It is best to know at least the outline of Napoleon's mid-to-late life, or to read earlier volumes first, for smoother reading.

What should readers be wary of?

The memoir was written after the fact and is shaped by the author's stance, memory errors, and the atmosphere of his time; its praise and blame and its details may not be objective. Treat it as supplementary material from a private perspective, verify key facts against scholarly works, and do not rely on it alone.

How difficult is the English, and what level is it suitable for?

The original is nineteenth-century English with long sentences and somewhat classical vocabulary, but the narrative is plain. Readers with college-level English and familiarity with historical texts can read it through with a dictionary; beginners should read selected passages or use Chinese materials alongside.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Louis Constant Wairy Author · French · 1778–1845

Wairy, Louis Constant (1778–1845), commonly known as "Constant," was a Frenchman and Napoleon's personal valet. He served as valet to the First Consul from 1800, was promoted to chief valet to the Emperor in 1806, accompanied Napoleon on his campaigns, and witnessed his abdication in 1814. In 1830 he published a six-volume memoir, Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon, which records the daily life and words of Napoleon's court from an eyewitness perspective and remains an important primary source for the study of Napoleon's court life. The library holds 14 of his works, mostly complete or partial editions of this memoir; public information on his early life and education is limited.