Napoleon: Probably the most important book from his private ownership auction

An edition of the influential French law Civil Civil from the private ownership of Napoleon Bonaparte was auctioned in France for 395,000 euros. The specimen on large bicycle paper was in the possession of the same family according to the fall of the Empire, the Tajan campaign house said on Thursday. It was bought by the Frojal family, the majority shareholder of the Lefebvre Dalloz publishing company, which specializes in legal matters.

The price for the Code Civil from the possession of his initiator had previously been estimated for a sum between 100,000 and 200,000 euros.

According to Tajan, the copy comes from the possession of the descendants of Étienne Charvet, a familiar Napoleon and administrator of the Saint-Cloud Castle near Paris. There the French emperor left the book behind when he was banned into exile on the island of Elba in 1814. A letter from Étienne Charvet’s son, Jean-Pierre Charvet, was auctioned together with the code Civil and is intended to prove the authenticity of the piece.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who came to power after the French Revolution in 1799, made the elaboration of a uniform code of law one of his priorities. In 1800 he appointed lawyers who were supposed to get to work. The laws contained therein were announced in March 1804. The Code Civil is one of the most important statements of modern times.