Tag: memoirs

Exploring the memoirs of notable figures throughout history is a passion of mine because they make great fodder for bringing the past into the present.

One of my favorite posts that contains information garnered from memoirs is Transitory Spaces. It was inspired by Garrow Kedigian’s space in the 2016 Kips Bay Decorator Show House, dubbed Napoléon’s Lounge. It was a stunning room with chalk tromp l’oeil architectural elements that knocked me out. There was even a small bundle of antique letters folded and tied with a ribbon on a side table in the room, which told me I simply had to present the point of view of the Emperor through his own memoir penned by Louis-Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, who was Napoléon’s personal secretary for eleven years and was given the immense task of recording the statesman’s every thought!

Did you know that his flagship, the Orient, as he is about to sail toward Egypt held these items? “Bonaparte’s own quarters were ‘astonishingly luxurious.’ Arnault had been asked to assemble for him a superb library aboard: history principally, and philosophy and poetry.” The books included in the library are actually recorded in Napoléon’s memoirs and the erudite choices are impressive for “a man of the campaign”—his intention to be sure. There were also eight hundred bottles of the best Burgundy and a city carriage for use in Egypt on board! If these types of details that bring history to life fascinate you as they do me, you can click on the memoirs tag on my site and read other posts with a similar verve.