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an old book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean open book with a handwritten poem on it sitting on a tablean open book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean old book with a green cover sitting on a white surface
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868 - [MANUSCRIPT] – COURNERIE (Jean-Baptiste). *Mes heures perdue…
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Estimate €1,800 - €2,000
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Description
[MANUSCRIPT] – COURNERIE (Jean-Baptiste). *Mes heures perdues*, revised, corrected and rewritten in 1865. Undated, place of publication unknown (1865). In-8, title page, 262 pp., written in fine, neat and very legible hand (approximately 20 lines per page), a few erasures, modest green Russian half-leather with worn corners, plain, unmarked spine, speckled edges (contemporary binding). Edges and corners heavily rubbed. Compiled later in life, this small manuscript brings together, in a very particular order, pieces of a very different nature, dealing with highly diverse subjects. 1. The most coherent and interesting section is found at the very beginning, under the title *Memoir of the Retreat from Moscow, 1812*, and occupies pp. 1–43. Jean-Baptiste Cournerie, an employee of the military administration, joined the Grande Armée late in the Russian campaign. Having arrived in Smolensk at the time of the retreat, he mainly recounts the stages of the return journey to France, before resuming service during the Saxon campaign in 1813. Blending personal memories and travel observations, this account has several distinctive features that make it as interesting to read as it is open to question. 2. The rest of the manuscript rambles somewhat in all directions and is generally written in verse: poems on various subjects, though mostly patriotic; a long, bizarre epic from 1820 entitled *La Queue blanche*; pieces on rural life; political writings of varying inspiration; an account of a criminal trial in 1852 at Coutances in which he served as a juror, the 1858 World’s Fair, the visit of Napoleon III and Eugénie to Cherbourg in August 1858, Magenta and Solferino. In all cases, the author’s Bonapartist loyalty is constantly evident. The places and characters mentioned suggest that he lived in Cherbourg.
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About the sale MONTIGNAC – 31st BOOK SALE – Day 2 of 4 – Nos. 550 to 1084
Auction location
Auction time 08/20/2026 at 11:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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