A three-volume set of Mémoires historiques et secrets de l’Impératrice Joséphine, second edition, published in Paris in 1827. The author, Marie-Anne Le Normand, was the most famous fortune teller in Paris. She claimed to have read the cards for Joséphine and predicted her rise to empress, and she wrote these memoirs as a confidante’s account of the empress’s life. The volumes are illustrated with engraved plates, and the frontispiece of volume three shows Joséphine in an Empire gown in her salon, with Napoleon entering behind her. They are half-bound in black grained leather with raised bands, gilt titles, and the date 1827 at the foot of each spine, over speckled blue boards. Inside are marbled endpapers and the engraved bookplate of Paul Guibourg, with his motto Sic itur ad lumen, “thus one goes toward the light.” They are lovely on a library shelf, a desk, or stacked on a console.
- Title: Mémoires historiques et secrets de l’Impératrice Joséphine
- Author: Marie-Anne Le Normand
- Age: 1827, second edition
- Origin: Paris, France
- Language: French
- Details: Three volumes; half-bound in black grained leather with raised bands and gilt titles, speckled blue boards, marbled endpapers; engraved plates; bookplate of Paul Guibourg
- Configuration: Set of three volumes
- Dimensions: 5"W × 8.5"H
Condition: Good antique condition with rubbing and wear to the spines, edges, and corners, and toning and light foxing to the pages, consistent with age
