^#346 ^Lot 369 Napoleon

Bold endorsement signature, “Napol,” alongside the signature of his War Minister the Duke of Feltre, on an off-white 7.5 x 2.5 slip clipped from a larger document, dated October 19, 1812. Scattered light toning from mounting remnants on reverse and three central vertical folds, otherwise fine condition. This was signed one month after the fire of Moscow, and removed from one of the last documents Napoleon signed there. The handwritten mention of Paris before the date is most likely due to a bureaucratic decision effective in France, while the plans of immediate departure from Russia had already been made. On that very day he finally decided to leave the Russian capital, ending a disastrous campaign that claimed close to half a million French lives.