Very rare first edition of the Portuguese translation of an account of Napoleon's Russian campaign by Eugène Labaume (1783-1849), who served as a lieutenant-colonel in Napoleon's army. His narrative is an important eye-witness account of Napoleon's catastrophic ambitions in Russia. ''The most striking chapters in the book are those which describe the ghastly catastrophe of the headlong rush of the wreck of the Grand Army across the territory which Napoleon had desolated" (Dundas Pillans). The two folding plates show the French and Russian battle camps of Moscow (7 September 1812) and Malo-Jariskavetz (24 October 1812).
With Portuguese library stamp on title-page, one plate with a marginal tear (restored), the imprint of a dried flower on pp. 222-223 of volume 2. Front hinge cracked and spine slightly rubbed. Internally in very good condition. Porbase (1 copy); WorldCat (1 other copy); cf. Dundas Pillans, The crime of 1812 and its retribution (1912).