The rediscovery of one of Marcaggi’s works on Napoleon Bonaparte may be considered as an event, his biography on the youth of the future emperor being one of the most exciting. Jean-Baptiste Marcaggi (1866-1933) is a Corsican author unjustly forgotten on the continent while his compatriots made no mistake, to the point of giving his name to a street in Ajaccio. Not only did he work as a historian, but he was also the author of novels, plays and worked for several newspapers. The original edition of the book in which this biography was reproduced having become almost unfindable, its re-edition gives itself the opportunity to be accompanied by an abundant iconography including numerous illustrations. If Napoleon has benefited more than any other from a veritable prodigality of representations in all artistic domains, the period of his youth is reduced to its simplest expression. Barely a few prints, not always accurate, it should be added, figure in the marvellous albums by Job but nothing truly convincing exists concerning the first twenty-four years of the life of Napoleon. For the first time hitherto unpublished illustrations, the work of several artists, will retrace this little known period, combining the most meticulous scientific measures with art worthy of our greatest neoclassic painters. For this, the most thorough research has been achieved as much on the very sites as in the archives and in the memory of Corsicans. It is therefore fitting to salute this outstanding work on the most celebrated figure of our national history. This book will mark a step of an entirely new genre in a monumental Napoleonic bibliography.

Bernard CHEVALLIER
Honory heritage curator general, fomer director of the Musée de la Malmaison.

56 pages, paper offset 150g. Texts by Jean-Baptiste Marcaggi. Illustrations by Philippe Munch, Christophe Simon, Philippe Werner and Philippe de Saint-Maur.