The Island of St. Helena Napoleon Bonaparte broadside first edition 1815

A SCARCE HAND-COLOURED BROADSIDE PUBLISHED IN THE AFTERMATH OF WATERLOO
 
[NAPOLEON BONAPARTE] A Descriptive Sketch of the Island of St. Helena. London: Printed for J. and E. Wallis, 42 Skinner Street, Snow Hill; and J. Wallis, jun., Marine Library, Sidmouth, Devon, 8 August 1815.
 
First edition. Large broadside printed on one side of a single sheet, 500 x 330 mm. With a large hand-coloured engraved panorama entitled Saint Helena from the Roads above two columns of descriptive letterpress. The view identifies twelve principal locations around Jamestown and the surrounding coastline, including Buttermilk Point, the Sugar Loaf, Banks's Battery, Munden's Fort, Rupert's Hill, the Landing Place, Government House, Ladder Hill and High Knoll. Some creasing and light surface marking; a couple of short closed tears and small nicks to the margins; light age toning and occasional minor spotting. The hand-colouring remains attractive and the broadside is complete and generally well preserved. Very good or better.
 
A scarce publication, issued less than two months after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and during the period in which European attention was turning towards the remote South Atlantic island that would become the setting for his final exile. Napoleon sailed for St Helena aboard HMS Northumberland at almost precisely the time this first issue appeared and arrived at Jamestown in October 1815.
 
The broadside presents St Helena both visually and through an extensive descriptive account. The panoramic engraving depicts the island as approached from the sea, with British ships lying off Jamestown and the steep, heavily fortified landscape rising behind the harbour. The accompanying text discusses the island's geography, climate, population, agriculture, trade, administration, military establishment and natural history, while paying particular attention to its defensive position and isolation.
 
This is the scarce first issue dated 8 August 1815. A second edition followed only nine days later, on 17 August, and employed a variant engraved view in which the arrangement of the shipping was altered. Very few institutional examples are recorded of either edition. An impressive piece of Napoleonic ephemera.