Not all the Napoleons were busy being emperors or engaging in wars of conquest. At least one, Louis-Lucien, managed to make a name for himself as a book collector.

            Louis-Lucien Bonaparte was born in 1813 in Thorngrow, England, to Lucien Bonaparte, brother of the husband of Josephine, and died in Fano, Italy, in 1891. The locations of these events, incidentally, tell us something of the up-and-down fortunes of the Bonaparte family. Louis-Lucien became interested in the study of philology—historical linguistics nowadays—and formulated for himself the goal of building the finest collection of books on that subject in the world. His first intent was to obtain something on every European language and dialect, but he later expanded his search to include all the languages and dialects in the world. The bibliographer of his collection noted that many authorities of the day considered that he had achieved his overall goal of assembling the finest collection and probably very nearly succeeded in completing the European aspect before his death interrupted his work.

            Like all truly passionate book collectors, Louis-Lucien spent much more than he could afford of his resources for books, so that when the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 resulted in the downfall of the Napoleonic regime, his monetary crisis was acute. Nonetheless, he continued his collecting as far as he was able, aided by his friendly contacts among the linguists of the day. Evidence of his efforts is the catalog of the collection, prepared in 1894 in anticipation of its sale, which lists over 13,000 items; a notation in the copy in the Newberry Library, Chicago, which ultimately acquired the collection, shows it as consisting of nearly 19,000 items.

            The bookplate for this remarkable example of the importance of private collecting in the history of libraries is reproduced on our cover, actual size. It is engraved, and displays a portion of the arms of the Bonaparte family.

Philip A. Metzger

Graduate School of Library and Information Science

The University of Texas at Austin  

 

Bookplate courtesy of The Newberry Library, Chicago.

[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 14, no. 3 (Summer 1979): 367-368.]