Rare letter in English by Napoleon sells for 480 mil. won

Compiled from news reports

A rare letter in English written by Napoleon Bonaparte ― and replete with errors ― fetched 325,000 euros ($406,445) at an auction Sunday in Paris.

The one-page letter, dated March 9, 1816, penned by Napoleon during his post-Waterloo exile on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, was one of just three known in the world, said auction house Osenat.

Addressed to the Count of Las Cases, Napoleon's companion in exile, the letter was acquired by the private Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris and originally estimated to fetch just 60,000 to 80,000 euros. The selling price was five times what was predicted.

In his "Memorial of Saint Helena", Las Cases wrote about how Napoleon began in March 1816 to correspond with him in English in order to practice the language of his jailers that he had began learning a few weeks earlier.

The Count also wrote in particular about the auctioned letter, saying: "The emperor did not sleep that night ― during his insomnia, he decided to write me a new letter in English.

"He sent it sealed to me, I corrected his errors, and replied to him, in English also, by mail.

"He understood the letter, and that convinced him of his progress and proved to him that he could, completely, correspond in his new language."

Despite Las Cases encouraging words, Napoleon's writing required some guesswork.

For instance, in one passage, he wrote: "He shall land above seven day a ship from Europe that we shall give account from anything who this shall have been even to day of first january thousand eight hundred sixteen."

Napoleon was referring to a ship from Europe that would dock in seven days, bringing news on what has happened since Jan. 1, 1816.

After his defeat to the British at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to Saint Helena where he died in 1821 age 51.

He wrote the letter while a captive by the British in the remote island of Saint Helena following his defeat at Waterloo, according to the Osenat auction house.

The house's president, Jean-Pierre Osenat, says Napoleon's English lessons were ``very noble, respectful.''

``He really had a great admiration for England, the rules and history. The English have the wrong idea: Napoleon didn't hate them, he was just a military man, and the French interests were different to the English,'' he said.

But did admiration alone lead the empire-building Frenchman to learn English?

It seems that vanity, too, may have played a role ― and though he was stranded on the South Atlantic Ocean island, he still cared about what people thought.

``Of course, he was always very worried about his image. He wanted to read what was said about him in the English press,'' added Osenat, with a wry smile.

Whatever the reason and despite Napoleon's best efforts ― months of hard study, often late into the night ― the letter shows he still had some way to go in mastering the language of Shakespeare.

It begins: ``It's two o'clock after midnight, I have enow sleep, I go then finish the night with you.''

Napoleon addressed the letter to the Count Las Cases ``at his bonk'' ― thought to be the word ``bunk'' misspelled.

In a moment of surprising humility, Napoleon Bonaparte asks his teacher in the letter to indulge him and correct his mistakes.

Napoleon died in island exile on May 5, 1821, aged 52.