[MANUSCRIPT - ALGER]. - Lot 82

[MANUSCRIPT - ALGER]. Album of Algiers. S.l., [ca. 1829-1830]. - Manuscript in-4 oblong, 210 x 265. Half dark green morocco; green morocco label with gilt roulette in the frame and the title "Album d'Alger" gilt in the center, smooth spine decorated (period binding). Curious and very interesting anonymous manuscript of two pages, in which the author gives a description of Algiers and its defenses, as well as advice to the French army for its conquest. "I have lived in Algiers for a long time, I know the city and its surroundings, its means of defense and its resources, I put (sic) in fact that the French army will go to the conquest of this city without finding there obstacles worthy of its value of our soldiers who overcame other much greater ones... Defended in a formidable way on the side of the sea, Algiers is not in a state to support a regular three days siege on the side of ground. It does not even have an activated enclosure, its ramparts are cut from distance to distance by dwelling houses whose high walls overlook ditches and have the appearance of fortification but are not really fortified... 4000 Turks made up the Garrison of the city, 2000 others were distributed in the various places of the Regency. The forces of the place in Artillery are of 800 Firearms on the side of the sea, and of hundred to hundred and twenty pieces on the side of the Land... The French army must expect to meet on the beach where it will disembark swarms of Arabs who will fight for the land, but these Arabs are undisciplined and poorly armed, many of them still use rifles, and moreover they will arrive there with food for only a few days, and hunger will soon make them go back to their mountains... The climate is very holy, less hot than that of Provence, there is no fever in Algiers and the plague only wreaks havoc when it is brought there from Egypt For more than ten years, it has not appeared there. Thus, far from seeking to magnify the dangers that the expedition of Algiers presents, one must make known things as they are and one can assure that to obtain success it is enough that the French show themselves, in this enterprise, such as they have always been. This manuscript is followed by three very beautiful original drawings, the first one in pencil representing a "View of Algiers taken from the Sea", the second one, in ink, showing the "Plan of the city and fortifications of Algiers..." taken from the Journal des sciences militaires of June 1829, and the third one, in ink and wash, showing on a double page a "View of the roadstead and city of Algiers". This document seems to be unpublished and we do not know for whom it could have been intended. It was written towards the end of 1829 or at the beginning of 1830, before the beginning of the expedition of Algiers which started in June 1830. Lacks and tears on the back.