“Napoleon was arguably the best-read emperor the world has ever seen. As a young man he particularly enjoyed Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, and in exile on Saint Helena one of his favourites was Paul et Virginie by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.

But he was also keen not to be separated from reading matter while on campaigns, so wisely commissioned various travel libraries which were put together by his personal librarian Antoine-Alexandre Barbier”.

Para saber mais: What did Napoleon read? Inside the French Emperor’s travelling campaign library