CHIAPPE (Jean-Jacques). - Lot 180

CHIAPPE (Jean-Jacques). Died 1822. Son of Ange Chiappe, a member of the National Convention; engineer officer; aide-de-camp to the Emperor. Correspondence to his father. Marseille, Paris, Saint-Cloud, Livorno, 1802–1811. 17 letters, 42 pp., in-4 format, most with addresses on the reverse. A lovely collection of letters from a son to his father, who was then a judge and later a prosecutor in Ajaccio. 1802–1803. His journey by stagecoach to Avignon and Paris with Piétri; mentions of relatives and family acquaintances (General Cervoni, the Bradi and Piétri cousins, his uncle Angelico); details about his schooling and boarding school. 1808–1810. His entrance exams at the École Polytechnique and his admission, despite his father’s wishes for him to enter the judiciary; the school’s “strictly military discipline”; his uncle hoped he would secure a position in “the naval engineering corps” rather than in the Army. “The fear of seeing me far from Corsica should not worry you, because as soon as I have spent a year or two at the Training School in Brest, I will take up residence in a city near Corsica—in Toulon, Marseille, Livorno, or Genoa (…). It is certain that France needs a navy, and ships will be built as long as we can—who knows, perhaps even if Ajaccio is not chosen as a shipbuilding site, I will still be in Corsica.” He reassures his mother that his position will remain civilian and not military. While awaiting his assignment, his uncle plans to appoint him as an auditor to the Council of State, despite his young age, and continues: “My uncle was pleased to see that you had abandoned your ideas about the judiciary, which offers only extremely honorable but not very lucrative positions (…). 1811. “(…) I will be an officer in the Corps of Engineers, free to resign and devote myself exclusively to the study of law.” During his first practical training sessions in Metz, he received news from the Bradi cousins: “I ran into Raphael in Paris; my uncle has decided to send him to the waters of Barrège to heal his wound. In the meantime, he hopes either to enlist him in the cavalry, as had already been done, or to attach him to a general as an aide-de-camp (…). Upon arriving in Paris, he plans to court Madame Mère (the Emperor’s mother) to present her with “the gift of the coral branch” [On the occasion of the birth of the King of Rome?]; but since Rossi prevented him from doing so, he wrote a letter to His Imperial Highness. Mentions of several Corsican families in the capital: Galeazzini, Olivetti, Rossi, Natalis, etc. “The Senator received me most warmly; I dined at his home, and we spoke at length about our country.” The Emperor is taking the organization of Corsica very seriously; the senator attended a private council of princes presided over by the Emperor, where this matter was discussed. There is much talk of war in the North (…). ” Response to his father’s disappointment at seeing him finally join the army, etc. ENCLOSED: 2 letters to his mother, 2 letters to his uncle and aunt, 1808–1809 (12 pp., ½ in-4, address on the reverse, seal). Description of life at the École Polytechnique, reflections on religion and religious boarding schools, on the death of her uncle Dominique-Antoine Chiappe; mention of Abbatuci, Conti, Ortoli, Bradi. ENCLOSED: a letter in Italian from Maria Chiappe, Ajaccio, October 1811 (1 p., in-4, address).