[ANONYMOUS]. Voyage de Leurs Majestés L'Empereur Napoléon II - Lot 19

[ANONYMOUS]. Voyage de Leurs Majestés L'Empereur Napoléon III et L'Impératrice Eugénie en Bretagne: Cherbourg, Brest, Quimper, Loriens, Vannes, Sainte-Anne, Napoléonville, Rennes. Charming manuscript describing, day by day, the official trip of the imperial couple to the territories of Brittany and Normandy. Paris, s.n., 1858. Manuscript in-4 square (23 × 23 cm), 48ff. ; 2ff. half mauve percaline, speckled paper-covered boards, strong paper leaves. Detailed, day-by-day account of the trip to Brittany undertaken by Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie in the summer of 1858. The trip was politically motivated: as Brittany was not entirely in the emperor's favor at the time, the regime had to win over the Bretons, in particular by emphasizing their religiosity, culminating in a visit to Sainte-Anne d'Auray. The official trip took place from Saint-Cloud on August 3, 1858, to Rennes on August 21. This anonymous handwritten notebook, with its neat, legible handwriting, seems to have been kept by a citizen who was not part of the trip and remained in the capital, as evidenced by the entry on the title page, which starts the account on July 24, 1858 in Paris. The end of July and the first two days of August contain descriptions of the preparations made in all the cities and stations where Their Majesties were to arrive. The entire journey is described from local newspaper articles, whose accounts are compiled, but above all from telegraphic dispatches received and dated from the towns and cities they passed through. We find the timetable of Their Imperial Highnesses (the tone is deferential and betrays a fervent supporter of the regime), the transcription of the speeches made, and finally the description of the trip, the reception of the inhabitants, the joy of the crowds and the visits and entertainment offered to the illustrious couple. The official account was published jointly by L'Illustration and Le Moniteur in August 1858, printed by Firmin Didot and entitled "Voyage de Leurs Majestés L'Empereur et L'Impératrice dans les départements de l'Ouest". Another publication, in book form, was by J. M. Poulain-Corbion, "historiographe du voyage impérial", published by Aymiot the same year. An interesting relic and testimony, in its original form, to this official trip under the Second Empire.