‎"HORTENSE Duchesse de Saint-Leu ; ex Reine de Hollande - [ Hortense de Beauharnais ] - Le Comte de la Garde ( editor ) - W. READ ( engraver ) :"‎
‎Romances mises en musique par Hortense Duchesse de Saint-Leu ex-reine de Hollande.‎

‎12. Londres ( London ) , de l'Imprimerie Cox & Baylis, s.d. ( 1824 ), in-8°, oblong format, 19 x 26,5 cm, (6)nn pp ( aquatint title , aquatint portrait, engraved facsimile of the Hortense's handwriting) + 15 pp + (48) nn pp (complete). Bound in contemporary red half roan, boards covered with marbled paper, smooth spine decorated with some gilt lines and with the intitials ''L.N.'' beneath a crown with 8 pearls. Binding with some wear, top and lower end of spine with some loss of leather, joints weak and partially split, interior with some foxing. In all still an acceptable copy with a technically sound binding. The last part of the book (48 nn pp ) consists of 12 full page aquatint engraving made by W. Read of drawings made by Hortense. The opposite page contains an engraving with the text and the score of a song composed by Hortense. Rare, we found only two copies in the OCLC catalogue ( British Library OCLC n° 498851957 - and in a Leipzig library). There was another edition in 1832 published by Colburn & Bentley which is more frequently found. The preface and the biography are written ( in French) by Count A.L.C. de Lagarde). The initials on the spine pose an identification problem. Could they be of L[ouis] N[apoleon], the future French emperor Napoleon III and son of the author ?[ Hortense - queen of Holland - Songs - Music - French - 19th c. ].‎

Reference : 45536

‎‎