Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821); Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815).

Expedition de Syrie jusqu'a la prise de Jaffa.

À Alexandrie, de l'Imprimerie orientale et française, an VII [after March 17, 1799].

Small folio. 18, [2 blank] pp. Thick fibrous paper. Collates: π, A-D2, π.

Sewn.

An unrecorded Alexandria imprint detailing battles in present-day Gaza and Israel.
The first modern printing press in the Arab world was the Imprimerie Orientale et Française in Alexandria, installed in July 1798 when the French invaded Egypt. It consisted of thee presses, and the plan was to move two to Cairo as soon as possible, but they had to wait due to a lack of camels to transport the heavy machinery. In October, they were taken to Rosetta and then transported by barge down the Nile to Cairo. One small press for French-language material remained in the port city under the management of Besson and retained the name Imprimerie Orientale et Française. The publication we offer here bears the imprint "À Alexandrie, de l'Imprimerie Orientale et Française" and the date March 17, 1799, in the text, so it was printed by Besson at the Alexandria press in its smaller form. As far as we can tell, this is the only recorded copy of any publication printed at the Alexandria press after October 1798. The press was dismantled in 1801. What stands out about this copy is that it is made of very thick, fibrous paper, much different from what was used at the Cairo press. Another edition of this text, set differently and printed in Cairo, is kept at the BnF: ark:/12148/cb310033660.

The publication contains seven reports and transcripts of letters to the enemy by generals Napoleon and Berthier from the battlefields in present-day Gaza and Israel. Napoleon set out to continue his Syria Campaign after he had taken control of Cairo. To keep his people informed about the progress and to maintain control of the narrative, he regularly sent military reports back to Egypt, which were printed at the presses there to spread the propagandist information.
The seven reports in this publication are:

-            Jaffa, 23 ventose an 7 [March 13, 1799]. Napoleon.

Reports on the battles in present-day  Gaza and Israel: the siege of el-A’rich (El Arish, Egypt), battle of Gaza and siege of Jaffa (present Tel Aviv).

-            Cairo, 5 fructidor an 6 [August 22, 1798]. Napoleon.

Letter to Ahmed Pasja al-Jezzar.

-            Cairo, 29 brumaire an 7 [November 19, 1798]. Napoleon.

Letter to Ahmed Pasja al-Jezzar.

-            El-A’rich, 2 ventose an 7 [February 20, 1799]. Berthier.

Letter to the Turkish commander of Fort El-A’rich, followed by the capitulation.

-            Jaffa, 27 ventose an 7 [March 17, 1799]. Berthier.

Letter to the commander of Jaffa.

-            Jaffa, 19 ventose an 7 [March 9, 1799].

Letter to the “Cheiks, U’lemas et autres habitans des provinces  de Gaza, Ramlèh et Jaffa”.

We traced four publications from the Imprimerie Orientale et Française at the BnF, one at the BL, and WorldCat lists three titles. All were printed with the equipment that was later moved to Cairo, in contrast to the publication that we offer here.

Condition: in excellent, wholly untrimmed condition, only the back of final page slightly discoloured.