WILSON, Robert Thomas.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Brief Remarks on the Character and Composition of the Russian Army, and a Sketch of the Campaigns in Poland in the Years 1806 and 1807. First edition of this account of the War of the Fourth Coalition, including an appendix reproducing firsthand reports of battles and outlining the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit. The eight finely engraved maps and plans concern major engagements and chart the overall theatre of war."On 3 November 1806 Wilson was serving on the staff of Lord Hutchinson and went with him on a special mission to the Prussian court... He accompanied Lord Hutchinson and Friedrich Wilhelm III, the king of Prussia, to Memel in January 1807, and in February joined General Beningsen at the Russian headquarters of the army at Jarnova" (ODNB). He saw action at Eylau and in the June 1807 campaign, before witnessing the signing of the armistice at Tilsit. "On 2 October he left England with a confidential communication from Canning to the tsar, and arrived at St Petersburg on the 20th. He left again on 8 November with dispatches from Lord Granville to Canning, containing intelligence which Wilson had himself been the first to procure, that the tsar was about to invade Swedish Finland and declare war on Britain" (ODNB).

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.