A copy of the French Civil Code that once belonged to Napoleon was sold on Thursday at an auction in Paris for €395,000, according to Parisian auction house Tajan.
The item’s value had been estimated at between €100,000 and €200,000.
“This copy, printed on large vellum paper with the number of the first consul, is the only one in private ownership,” Tajan said in a press release. “It has remained with the same family since the fall of the [French] empire.”
The item was owned by the family of Etienne Charvet, one of Napoleon’s loyal followers. Charvet was the caretaker of the Château de Saint-Cloud, near Paris, where Napoleon left the book when he was exiled to the island of Elba in 1814.
A letter from Charvet’s son, Jean-Pierre Charvet, which was sold with the book, verifies its authenticity.
When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799, the creation of a unified civil code was one of his priorities. In 1800, he appointed jurists to undertake the task.
All the laws contained in the code were enacted in March 1804.
