[NAPOLEON I]
Document signed (as "Napoleon"), a single page dated 26 Frimaire, An 13, i.e. December 17th, 1804, formally addressed in the first line to [Nicolas-Louis] Francois de Neufchateau, the newly appointed president of the Senat conservateur. Folded sheet, i.e. 2 ff., leaf size 9 x 7 3/8 inches (23 x 19 cm); ten lines on the first page in French in a secretarial hand, written in blackish-brown ink, signed "Napoleon," with a strong flourished signature. Some spotting and folding creases, the bottom edge of the sheet (presumably blank) cut away at some point, the sheet a bit darkened where in contact with the mat, but overall an attractive and interesting document, framed with a hand-colored engraving of Napoleon as Emperor.
Written less than two weeks after he had been crowned Emperor, Napoleon decrees that Neufchateau should induct Monsieur Beviere (a senior Parisian public official) as a member of the Senate. Documents signed by Napoleon from the month of his Coronation (he had been crowned Emperor on December 2, 1804--11 Frimaire--at the hands Pope Pius VII) are quite uncommon. Similarly, those with his full signature as Emperor are quite scarce.