STUDIES IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS
The endpapers and interior are complete
The serialization of STUDIES IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS was extremely successful, so much so that we’ve undertaken a much more sizable serialization with the ongoing CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY series, which will take years to complete. But we’re also nearing the finish line for the Castalia History book itself, as we’ve finished with the interior work and are now in the process of designing the cover stamp.
The front endpapers is a detailed display of Napoleon reviewing the mounted chasseurs of the Imperial Guard, who are featured in one of the book’s chapters, in Paris. Another, even more famous Parisian monument features in the title page, as seen below.
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile was an obvious choice for the title page graphic as it is intrinsically connected with the Napoleonic Wars as well as being one of the most famous monuments in Paris. Built from 1806 to 1836, it stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle at the western end of the Champs-Élysées and honors the soldiers who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars. On it are inscribed the names of all French victories and generals, although the battles that took place in the period between the departure of Napoleon from Elba to his final defeat at Waterloo are not included.
But the victors in the Napoleonic Wars are not forgotten, as the rear endpapers show the famous Lines of Torres Vedras, which were were lines of forts and other military defences built by the Duke of Wellington to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were constructed by Colonel Richard Fletcher directing Portuguese engineers between November 1809 and September 1810, and were successfully utilized to stop Marshal Masséna's attempt to invade Portugal.
Between October 11, 1810 and when he returned to France in April the following spring, Masséna lost 21,000 of his 61,000 men in his failed attempt to break the lines.
As we’re printing and binding 100 more copies of STUDIES IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS than we did of the previous books in the series, we still have 50 that are not yet spoken for. The retail price is $250 for nonsubscribers and $120 for Castalia History, Castalia Library, and Libraria Castalia subscribers. The discount code for History is different, so please contact library@castaliahouse.com if you are a subscriber who is interested in purchasing one of the remaining books.
Please note that we do not yet have a date for the books to be bound yet, but we expect it will be sometime this fall.