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20. In Conversation with Napoleon Bonaparte: J. H. Vivian’s
Visit to the Island of Elba
 John Henry Vivian (1785-1855) was a
leading British copper-master and one of the makers of modern
Swansea. As a young man, in 1814-15 he
made a tour of the Continent of Europe during which he met the deposed
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Vivian kept a journal of his travels, and this
book publishes his account of his experiences on
Elba and in
Italy and
Eastern Europe. It paints a portrait of
Napoleon and his state of mind in the months before he escaped and was
defeated at the Battle of Waterloo; it describes Napoleon’s tiny kingdom of
Elba and its famous iron mines which later in the century gave their name to
the mining community of Elba, near Swansea; and it records Vivian’s
fascination with the salt mines and metallurgical industries of Germany and
Poland.
Edited
by Ralph A. Griffiths
Published
2008
ISBN
978-0-9553387-0-0
Price:
£11.00 Members’ price: £9.45
Review:
‘A fascinating insight into the social, domestic,
political and cultural milieu of Sir Thomas Aubrey…this scholarly and elegant
volume makes available an important source for the history of the
seventeenth-century south Wales gentry…Lloyd Bowen’s editing of the accounts
is exemplary…The result is an impressive edition that will add much to our
understanding of gentry life.’
Michael Cardy in Minerva no. 16: 'Ralph Griffiths has done a fine job
of editing the texts: knowledgeable and informative introductory material;
pertinent and unfussy annotation. Overall, this is an excellent addition to
a very worthwhile series'
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