Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #606855 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-20
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Synopsis
This handsome book is a unique record of Napoleon's invasion of Russia by Faber du Faur, a talented artist and front-line soldier. It combines his detailed, accurate and compelling illustrations of scenes recorded as they actually happened with his vivid and gripping memoirs of the campaign. The result is a superb and remarkably detailed evocation of 1812, from the sweeping battle scenes which capture the ordeal of Smolensk and Borodino, to the day-to-day struggle to keep campfires burning and famished men fed. Faber du Faur's plates - admired and highly-regarded primary source material - are here presented, for the first time, complete and in full colour. His moving and frank memoirs, edited and translated by Jonathan North, are accompanied by a detailed campaign history and biography of the artist. Napoleon's invasion of Russia is a legendary campaign and a captivating story of endurance, survival and the rigours of total war. Few of the 500,000 men to cross the Niemen in July 1812 were to survive - the French army was decimated by the advance into the heart of Russia, and almost completely destroyed in the epic retreat from Moscow.

With Napoleon in Russia is a unique presentation of this epic and an unforgettable depiction of the horrors of war.

From the Author
Faber du Faur was a talented artist and the publication of his colour plates is a tremendous opportunity to appreciate his art and, what is more, experience the famous invasion of Russia from the point of view of those actually taking part. The 93 colour plates show scenes of camp life, battles, burning villages, Moscow before and after the great fire, and, of course, the terrible retreat through the ice and snow. In addition to the plates, With Napoleon in Russia includes Faber du Faur's sketches, actually drawn on campaign. These, published for the very first time, are possibly of even more interest and are certainly unique. Despite his onerous duties as an artillery officer Faber du Faur found time to indulge in his passion for sketching; he drew his comrades, bodies lying by the roadside, churches, peasants, prisoners and country houses. It's a wonderful evocation of how Russia looked in 1812 and how the invasion shattered otherwise idyllic scenes. Finally, With Napoleon in Russia includes Faber du Faur's own commentary, a relation of his experiences and the wider history of a doomed enterprise in which half a million men lost their lives.

Images of past conflicts are rare enough; here, for the first time, we have a unique insight into how Napoleonic warfare actually looked and a better understanding of an invasion which is and was an epic.

Customer Reviews

Every campaigners companion
Every reader of a history of Napoleon's 1812 campaign will be familiar with the lithographs of Faber Du Faur. This is a superb collection of the original coloured lithographs which were drawn from sketches made at the time of the campaign. There are plenty of examples of the original sketches included. The lithographs are not epic canvasses of the sort which were intended to glorify the feats or uniforms of the commisioner paying the artist. They are detailed "snapshots" of life and death as played out on the road to and from Moscow. They are the closest thing to photographs you'll find. Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur was a 32 year old lieutenant in the 2nd Wurttemberger Foot Artillery Battery. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur and the Knight's Cross. Accompanying each illustration is a text by F du F or Frederick von Kausler who collaborated on this part of the book. The book is 10.5 x 13 inches.