Entitled “Les chutes” (“The Downfall(s)”), this 15th and last volume of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Correspondance générale covers the darkest periods – but also in some respects the most exciting – of the epic. It leads us in the footsteps of the Emperor, from the plains of Champagne to the rock of St Helena via the island of Elba and Waterloo. Of the 2,398 letters published, 61% were not included in previous editions. These unpublished articles shed new light on the end of the Napoleonic episode as well as on the final exile.
This last volume also proposes the “Supplements” (addenda) to the General Correspondence for the period 1784-1813,  namely 378 unpublished letters, mainly from private collections and which could not be published in the previous volumes.

For this publication, the Fondation Napoléon  has received the financial support of the Archives de France, the Fondation La Poste, and the Centre National du Livre. The Fondation thanks Patrick and Alain de Pauw for their assistance in the publication of this volume.

Volume under the direction of Vincent Haegele, Pierre Branda, Thierry Lentz, Jacques Macé and François Houdecek, assisted by Marie de Bruchard.
Paris, éditions Fayard, 2018, 1488 pages

Volume sueprvised by Vincent Haegele, Pierre Branda, Thierry Lentz, Jacques Macé and François Houdecek, assisted by Marie de Bruchard.

Paris, éditions Fayard, 2018, 1488 pages

Read an English translation of the Preface to the volume by Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, Président of Fondation Napoléon

Contents of Volume XV

– Préface, by Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, Président of Fondation Napoléon
– La campagne de France 1er janvier 1814-20 avril 1814 : introduction (in French) and correspondence directed and commented by Vincent Haegele
– Le souverain de l’île d’Elbe 21 avril 1814-26 février 1815 : introduction (in French) and correspondence directed and commented by Pierre Branda
– Les Cent-Jours 11 mars 1815-22 juin 1815 : introduction (in French) and correspondence directed and commented by Thierry Lentz
– Le dernier exil : Sainte-Hélène 27 juin 1815-5 mai 1821 : introduction (in French) and correspondence directed and commented by Jacques Macé
– Letters in private collections of which texts are not available
– Addenda 1788-1813 : correspondence directed and commented by François Houdecek
– Les mystérieuses lettres à Emma, by Fr. houdecek
– Letters in private collections of which texts are not available, in previous volumes
– Essays
— Un apocryphe célèbre : la pseudo-lettre de Napoléon à Marie-Louise du 22 juin 1815, by Charles-Eloi Vial
— 1814-1815 – Destructions et prélèvements d’archives, by Fr. Houdecek
— Le cabinet de Sainte-Hélène
– Annexes
— Weights, measures and currency
— Timeline (January 1814 – May 1821), by Irène Delage, head of Documentation, Fondation Napoléon

— Maps and Illustrations
—–The invasion – situation in January 1814
—–The French Campaign – January 1814
—–The French Campaign – February 1814
—–The French Campaign – The Allies march on Paris
—–The French Campaign – February-March 1814
—– Elba
—– The flight of the Eagle
—– Ligny and Quatre-Bras – 16 June 1815
—– Operations teh day after the Battle of Ligny – 1815
—– From Waterloo to the island of Aix to St Helena
—– Towards St Helena
—– Longwood 1815
—– Longwood 1816-1821
—– Letters n° 38104 ; 38199 ; 38630 ; 38767 ; 39022 ; 40052 and 40052 bis

— Bilan d’une aventure éditoriale, (assessment of an editoral adventure) by Th. Lentz and Fr. Houdecek
— Summary of the fifteen volumes of the Correspondance générale
— list of essays published in the Annexes of the Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte
— General table of maps published in appendix to Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte

– List of archives that participated in the publication of Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte
– General manuscript and bibliographical sources (volumes 1 to 15)

– Index of names (January 1814-May 1821)
– Index of places where letters were written
– Index of Names, Index of Institutions – Addenda 1788-1813
– Index of Place Names – Addenda 1788-1813

Read an extract on the website of Fayard. (in French)