A treaty of union, concert, and subsidy, between His Britannic Majesty and His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty The Emperor of Austria. Signed at Chaumont, the 1st of March 1814
London: printed by R.G. Clarke, [1814].
Quarto (9 1/2” x 7 11/16”, 240mm x 193mm): A4 B4 [$1 signed]. 8 leaves, pp. 1-3 4-13, 3 blanks. Printed in facing French and English. With the woodcut Royal arms to the title-page.
Bound in self-wrappers, stabbed as issued. Untrimmed.
With some soiling to the cover. Lower fore-corners of the first three leaves rolled. A1.2 partially unopened. Docketed in graphite “Geo. III/ 1072” to the title-page.
The 1814 Treaty of Chaumont, printed in French and English facing, is a major primary text in the history of Europe, and the beginning of the end of the military career of Napoleon Bonaparte. The signatories were four members of the Sixth Coalition: the United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia and Russia, which had dealt the first major blow to Napoleon’s armies at Moscow in 1812. The Treaty — with Viscount Castelreagh negotiating on behalf of George III (with the future George IV as Regent) — records the commitment of each nation to put 150,000 soldiers into the field of battle, and to continue to fight until the total defeat of Napoleon, should he reject the terms (which he did; the actual signing of the treaty was either the 9th or the 19th of March; all parties agreed to date it to the 1st of March). The allied forces entered Paris on the 30th–31st of March, the first time a foreign force had breached the capital in 400 years.
Napoleon had already marched to Fontainebleau, and, outraged at the fall of Paris, tried to return to retake Paris, but his marshals prevailed on him to surrender. His abdication came a week later (after an attempt to devolve power onto his son), paving the way to the Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. The Treaty of Fontainebleau (11 April 1814), which exiled Napoleon to Elba, held until his escape in February of 1815 — leading to the War of the Seventh Coalition or Hundred Days (Cent Jours) that ended with Waterloo and Napoleon’s final abdication.
Item #JLR0398
Price: $350