Specifications of the original collection

Detailed description

The Nougarède du Fayet collection of original Napoleon's letters to Bigot de Préameneu is in the form of a volume bound in red long-grained morocco leather. The decoration of the binding, which is neither dated nor signed, is obviously in "Empire" style, but may have been made under the Restoration: the boards are decorated with the imperial arms surrounded by tooling in the shape of bees.

The letters are thumb-indexed in chronological order: the collection is neither folioed nor paginated and the letters are not numbered. None of the letters is handwritten.
The majority of them bear Napoleon's signature, usually in the form of a simple N or the monogram "Nap" except for the one dated 29 Vendémiaire, An 11, signed Bonaparte in full, on headed paper decorated with the consular vignette engraved by Prudhon representing the Republic addorsed by the Constitution.

The chronological pattern of the letters is as follows: 7 letters are addressed to Bigot de Préameneu before he became Ministre des Cultes. The largest number of letters are from the period 1809-1811: 15 letters in 1809, 49 in 1810 and 56 in 1811. After that time the letters are fewer: the last four date from the Cent-Jours.

For a more detailed typology see the introduction by J.O. Boudon.

Background to the conservation of the letters
The collection was bequeathed to the Conseil d'Etat by Bigot de Préameneu's daughter, the widow Nougarède du Fayet, as is shown by a handwritten statement on one of the leaves at the beginning of the volume and the documents that accompany it. The Conseil d'Etat has an extract from the will in which Eulalie bequeathed this collection of letters to the Conseil d'Etat.
These letters, addressed to Bigot de Préameneu, part of which were published from the originals in the Correspondance de Napoléon Ier commissioned by Napoleon III, had a miraculous escape from the fire that destroyed the Palais d'Orsay and all its archives in 1871. In fact, the representative of the Paris Commune, a lawyer named Peyrouton, came across a large iron cupboard in the Palais d'Orsay and insisted on its being opened. This cupboard, which contained the family records of the imperial family, was then emptied of its contents by M. Noël, in charge of property, who left in it just the collection of Napoleon's letters to Bigot de Préameneu. Peyrouton sent this collection to the representative of l'Intérieure, and it was in this drawer that it escaped the fire which destroyed all the other documents kept by the Conseil d'Etat… These letters were rediscovered in Place Beauvau and sent to M. Thiers, who then passed them on to the son of the donor, M. Alfred Boulay de la Meurthe. After consultation with the family, he then returned them to the Conseil d'Etat, the abolition of which was under discussion at the time, and there they have remained ever since.

Terms of access and use
The digitised collection is fully available on this site, in the form of a transcription of the originals made by N. Clot.
The public may not see the original, for reasons of conservation. Black and white photographs may be made available on application giving reasons. The reproduction of documents belonging to the State requires permission and is conditional.
Apply in writing to:
M. le conservateur de la Bibliothèque
Bibliothèque du Conseil d'Etat
Place du Palais Royal
75 100 Paris SP

Headed letter from the provisional Committee responsible for replacing the Conseil d'État

Paris, 22 March 1872
On 22 March 1872, M. Alfred Boulay de la Meurthe presented M. Caille, General Secretary of the provisional Committee set up to replace the Conseil d'État, with a volume containing the letters from Emperor Napoleon I to Comte Bigot de Préameneu and acknowledged as complete according to the handwritten table that was appended to them. These letters had been bequeathed to the Conseil d'État by Mme la Baronne de Nougarède de Fayet in her notarised will dated 2 December 1864. They were handed over to the Conseil d'État on her death, as is shown by a letter dated 2 August 1866 by President Vuitry which the family still has. During the 1871 Commune, the representative Peyrouton took possession of these letters and conveyed them to the Ministère de l'Intérieur, where they were rediscovered, on 22 May, in the drawer of a desk by M. Provost, head of the internal service of the Ministry. M. Provost returning to Versailles the same evening left them in the office of the head of the executive power, from where he removed them, at the request of the family, in March 1872. On 19 March they were entrusted to M. Alfred Boulay de La Meurthe so that the family could ensure that the will of the testatrix was executed in this unexpected way. When handing over this volume, M. Boulay made it known that it was the family's wish that the documents not be passed on. He believed that, because of the circumstances, he had to express the reservation of rights the family might have over this collection, in the event of the Conseil d'État being abolished.
Given in duplicate in Paris, on 22 March eighteen hundred and seventy two.
Alf. Boulay de la Meurthe.

Extract from the will of Madame Nougarède, Baronne de Fayet, drawn up by Maître Donon, Notary of Paris, 9, rue de Villersexel, Boulevard St Germain 252 bis.

N° 59 234
From the notarially recorded will of Madame la Baronne Nougarède de Fayet named below, executed in the presence of witnesses, by Maître Louis Eugène Sebert and his colleague Maître Demanche, notaries of Paris, in Paris on the second day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty four, on the original of which is stated the following:

"Enregistré à Paris, onzième Bureau, le dix neuf avril mil huit cent soixante six, folio 93, verso case 7, reçu cinq francs décime et demi soixante quinze centimes. Signé : Laroque
The following has been extracted literally

There appeared Madame Eulalie, Jeanne, Marie, Félicité Bigot de Préameneu, Baronne de Fayet, widow of her first marriage to Monsieur Etienne Sauret, former legislator, and of her second marriage to M. André Jean Simon Nougarède, Baron de Fayet, former President of the Court of Appeal of Paris, former member of the Legislative Body, the said lady a woman of property resident in Paris at rue de l'Université, N° 24.
Who, being in good health and of sound mind, memory and understanding as it appeared to the notaries and undersigned witnesses from her conversation and from the clear and precise manifestation of her will, has, in the event of her death, dictated to the said Maîtres Sebert and Demanche, notaries, in the presence of two witnesses, her last will and testament as follows:
"I have already given etc … "I give and bequeath to the Conseil d'État a bound volume containing one hundred and fifty seven letters from the Emperor Napoleon, letters addressed to my father, comte Bigot de Préameneu, during his time at the Ministère des Cultes, from the twenty ninth Vendémiaire, An 11, to the twenty sixth day of May, eighteen hundred and fifteen, a very curious period of history. By paying tribute to the Conseil d'État, with this precious volume, I hope to ensure its permanent conservation. I here express my will that these various objects be given to the various legatees, free and discharged of all fees and costs, immediately following my death."

In the year eighteen hundred and ninety one, these documents were extracted, collated and delivered by Maître Paul Alexis Donon, notary of Paris, undersigned, on the original of the said will being in his possession, as immediate successor to the said Maître Sébert, notary
The testatrix having died at home on 13 April, eighteen hundred and sixty six.
Donon