NAPOLEON’S UNIFORMS AND IMPERIAL EQUIPMENT: GUARD THE INFANTRY

◗ Paul L. Dawson ◗ Frontline Books (2019) ◗ £40 ◗ 475 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781526701916 ◗ frontline-books.com

This beautifully presented book begins with a useful eight-page glossary, explaining contemporary French military terms while in the fourth chapter the author explains the different types of cloth used in the manufacture of uniforms and how they were was dyed. Twentyfive chapters, each one devoted to a different unit, from the Staff to the Marins, describe its organisation and uniforms in exhaustive detail although the lack of schematic illustrations is – frankly – going to be irrelevant to painters of small-scale wargame troops.

A second volume will cover the Cavalry of the Guard, as an unfortunate error in the‘blurb’on the back of the dust-jacket describes this book as a ‘guide to the dress, weapons and accruements [sic] of the cavalry [!] elements of the most famous formation of the Napoleonic Wars’.

But those who admire, and are fascinated by, the Imperial Guard will enjoy poring over the extremely detailed text, beautiful colour photographs of surviving artefacts and the six new colour plates. If you love the minutiae of uniforms, you will find this book a delight; if on the other hand you are indifferent to such matters, you will not wish to purchase.