[MANUSCRITS] BONNARD ( Charles): Le Français prisonnier de g - Lot 108

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Lot n° 108
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[MANUSCRITS] BONNARD ( Charles): Le Français prisonnier de g - Lot 108
[MANUSCRITS] BONNARD ( Charles): Le Français prisonnier de guerre en Espagne, histoire véritable. Suivie de quelques anecdotes ayant aussi leur côté vrai, recueillies par C. B., ancien officier d'infanterie, 1849. 15.5 by 24 cm. 441 pages. Contemporary olive half-basane, smooth spine with romantic irons. Covers worn, spine broken, hinges fragile. Very good condition inside. "Charles Bonnard recounts his personal story as a young lieutenant in the Champagne Infantry Regiment when Spain went to war in 1793. The story is placed at the head of the History and Anecdotes volume. Garrisoned in Perpignan at the time of Spain's entry into the war, his unit was sent to defend the border from the Fort des Bains, which quickly became blockaded by Spanish troops. On June 3, 1793, without ever having been reinforced or supplied, the fort capitulated and the garrison surrendered, with honors as their only consolation. The officers then began a period of "captivity" in various Spanish towns, softened by the relative freedom of movement they sometimes enjoyed from the Spanish authorities. It was in Valladolid that Charles and his companions were finally placed under house arrest. And it is here that Charles and Francisca, a young member of the local nobility, embark on a whirlwind romance. This story, which gathers unpublished confidences from the characters, is interesting for several reasons. In historical terms, it illustrates the fragility of the young French Republic, besieged on all sides by the European monarchies. Locally, it illustrates the concept of the "Nation in arms", the foundation of the new army described by Jaurès. It is also a "sociological" account, in that it describes the mores and characteristics of Spanish society at the time, which was deeply monarchist and showed a collective aversion to the Republicans. Finally, it's a fairly fine character study of the protagonists of the love story that serves as the narrative's framework." The manuscript is in fine, legible handwriting. The author has signed the title page, to authenticate the text, and lift the anonymity of the C. B. of the title. Includes: [MANUSCRITS] BONNARD ( Charles): Contes en vers et autres poésies, par C. B., ancien officier d'infanterie, tome 1er 1849. Heureux qui dans ses vers, fixant de sa jeunesse The too real sorrows, the fleeting pleasures Spares himself from afar to charm his old age The resource of memories (Legay). Two volumes, 1849. 15.5 by 23 cm. XII-438; 336 pages. Olive half-basane, smooth spines decorated with romantic irons. Minor rubbing, corners show traces of old dampstaining, otherwise good condition. An attractive set of unpublished writings by Charles Bonnard, a former infantry officer born in 1770 and living in retirement at Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy. These are various pieces, written between 1794 and 1856, when, at the age of 87, he composed in verse an Éloge funèbre d'une reine d'Égypte (Histoire et anecdotes). The copy was probably made by a secretary, with meticulous handwriting. Each volume is signed in the author's own hand, on the title page. A late writer, Charles BONNARD tried his hand at Contes galants, poems and even pieces intended for song. This collection also includes some of his early works. "Charles Bonnard served in the royal, republican and imperial armies, surviving every battle. He was one of the few officers of his generation to enjoy a retirement that many of his fallen comrades were unable to enjoy. At the age of sixty-three, this cultivated officer revived his interest in literature, and discovered a taste and enthusiasm for versification (see Avis au lecteur, in Contes en vers et autres poésies, t. I). In 1849, he succeeded in compiling all the stories and poems he had written in alexandrine, i.e. almost 90 pieces, in two volumes." An endearing, and probably unique, collection from an amateur but talented author, and a witness to his troubled times.
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