MAYEUX (L. J. B.). Notice géographique sur les Isles Saint-M - Lot 512

MAYEUX (L. J. B.). Notice géographique sur les Isles Saint-Marcouf. Valognes, Gomont, 1810. In-12, 45 pp., havana half calf, smooth mute spine (a few small leather tears) (period binding). Very rare and unique edition (only two copies in the CCF (BnF and Rouen), of this work dedicated to the small archipelago of Saint-Marcouf, located in the Bay of the Seine to the east of the Cotentin peninsula, and which was of major strategic importance during the revolutionary and imperial periods, as the British, who had occupied it since 1795, greatly disrupted maritime trade. In 1800, Napoleon I attempted to dislodge them using the Nautilus, the first war submarine designed by Robert Fulton, without success. The islands were returned to Napoleon in 1802, and an armed fortress was built to prevent any further threats. E.A.S. from the author on verso of title: "A Monsieur Le Bechu, capitaine du génie, donné par l'auteur, Le Lieutenant du Roi de Granville / Mayeux". Captain at the age of 23, Mayeux served in Saint-Domingue, then in the Army of the West, before defending the islands of Saint-Marcouf under the Empire. He ended his military career as squadron leader and commander of Granville. A history buff, he devoted his spare time to writing the town's first historical chronicles. Ex-libris JM (Frère II, 294.)