Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
Les Essais de Michel, seigneur de Montaigne. Édition nouvelle enrichie d’an[n]otations en marge corrigée et augmentée d’un tiers… plus la vie de l’autheur extraicte de ses propres escrits
A Paris: [Chez Michel Nivelle or Jean Petit-pas or Claude Rigaud or la veuve Dominique Salis or Charles Sevestre], 1608
Montaigne.2.5.142, front cover

At Longwood, a library formed one of a suite of rooms provided for Napoleon’s personal use. He appointed his groom, Louis Etienne Saint-Denis, who had accompanied him on campaigns dressed as a Mamluk, as his librarian. Napoleon would sometimes call for books to be brought to him which he would read aloud to his fatigued household late into the night. This is Napoleon’s own copy of Montaigne’s Essais. The mottled calf binding is decorated with a crowned initial ‘N’ and bees, one of Napoleon’s symbols.