Bourgeot, Vincent (Hrsg.) Les Carnets d'Eugène de Beauharnais. Garde des Consuls

The booklets reproduced here in their entirety were originally in the possession of General Mellinet: this officer, then referred to by General Vanson as the 'glorious scar', commanded the grenadiers of the Imperial Guard in Magenta. The general was a book lover and donated most of his works to the war depot, but kept a few exceptional pieces which he liked to browse until his death.

He liked to surround himself with people who had a fondness for military uniforms, and he allowed them to consult and even copy some of his works. In the first years of the existence of the Sabretache notebooks, in 1893 to be precise, General Vanson, with the approval of General Mellinet, published extracts from these notebooks under the title "La Garde Consulaire" (The Consular Guard). He limited himself to 4 pages of text; in 1895, another 6 pages were published and on this occasion the military painter Edouard Detaille gave two watercolour drawings to the member of the Association; these works illustrated this extract by taking their inspiration from the famous orders. But the most important part remained unknown to the general public! This circumstance changes with this publication. With 50 ill. of Consular Guard equipment from private collections and 70 service certificates of the officers mentioned in the booklets.