Beschreibung:

NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE Document endorsed, signed "Bonaparte" , single leaf folded, one column in French, the other in Arabic, the French portion addressed "Au Général in Chef Bonaparte", written by Jacob Petro, probably from Jaffa, dated 17 Th[ermid]or 7 i.e. August 4, 1799. 13 x 9 1/4 inches (33 x 23.5 cm); written in brown ink on burnished paper, with twenty lines in the left column in French, 15 lines in the right in Arabic, with an endorsement at the foot of the latter in French, signed "Bonaparte". Some very minor toning and spotting, framed with an engraved portrait. With a 1981 receipt from B. Altman & Co. A most unusual document dating from Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. The French portion is a petition by Jacob Petro, a native of Jerusalem, who suffered in the pillage of Jaffa. He presents a sorry tale of being abused by the French commissary in Jaffa, who refused to pay him for a large quantity of rice, and he pleads with Napoléon (who he had apparently met) to make him whole on the transaction, so that he may pay his suppliers (the letter is written in rather colorful language, a translation of the French on request). At the foot of the Arabic portion (of which the French is presumably a fair translation) is written in French: "Return to the Citizen Toussiesgue[?]/Gen. in Chief/Bonaparte." It is unclear if the unfortunate Petro was ever paid, but this is a fascinating document, made especially unusual by the presence of the Arabic text of the petitioner. C