Letter from Napoleon’s brother with Shrewsbury link to be sold auction

Halls Fine Art’s stamps specialist Andy Neal describes the letter from Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840), first Prince of Canino and Musignano, as “of postal, historical and literary importance.”

Lot 313 in the company’s books, coins and stamps auction in Shrewsbury on Wednesday, July 24, the letter, valued at £350 to £450, has been professionally conserved and is sold with a translation of the original French, various notes and pictures.

Lucien was a French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution who served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 and president of the Council of Five Hundred in 1799, participating in the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire that brought Napoleon to power in France.

With Lucien’s relationship with Napoleon having cooled by 1810, he set sail with his family from Italy to start a new life in the USA. However, as their ship sheltered in Sardinia from storms, he was captured and brought to Britain where he became a paroled prisoner.

He spent time at Dinham near Ludlow, Lord Powis’ house and then purchased Thorngrove, Grimley near Worcester. As part of his parole, Lucien and his family were restricted to a 10 mile radius and all his mail was inspected by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Leighton of Shrewsbury, a retired army officer, before being posted.

Under Leighton’s orders, Worcester postmaster would only accept mail that carried his “secret mark” to denote it had been inspected.

The letter being sold next week, which has part of Lucien’s LB seal remaining, was written at Thorngrove and posted in Shrewsbury on November 25, 1813 to Cambridge.

“There is no trace of any ‘secret mark’, so perhaps it was smuggled to Shrewsbury to avoid censorship,” said Mr Neal. “The letter is to Francis Hodgson, Fellow at Kings College, Cambridge and a friend of Byron.

“Hodgson had translated the poetry of Juvenal into English and Lucien was seeking his help to translate his own epic poem ‘Charlemagne’ (The Church delivered) into English.

“The request obviously bore fruit as Lucien’s epic 24 book poem was translated by Hodgson, working with Samuel Butler and a copy was presented to King George IV whilst Prince Regent in 1815.”

The saleroom will be open to view the auction lots on Monday and Tuesday, July 22 and 23 from 10am to 4pm. Contact Halls Fine Art on 01743 450700 or email fineart@hallsgb.com for further information.