The First Book of Napoleon

The First Book of Napoleon, the Tyrant of the Earth is an English-language text dating to 1809. The work is a history of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Wars.

Content
The First Book of Napoleon describes the early history of the Napoleonic Wars.

The historical narrative begins by describing the events of the 1789 French Revolution, writing: 1 And behold it came to pass, in these latter days, that an evil spirit arose on the face of the earth, and greatly troubled the sons of men, 2 And this spirit seized upon, and spread amongst the people who dwell in the land of Gaul. [...] 4 And the evil spirit went abroad amongst the people, and they raged like unto the heathen, and they rose up against their lawful king, and slew him, and his queen also, and the prince their son 5 yea, verily, with a cruel and bloody death. 5 And they moreover smote, with mighty wrath, the king's guards, and banished the priests, and nobles of the land

The narrative continues, describing Napoleon's rise to power, the start of hostilities between France and Britain, and events of the war, such as the destruction of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.

The work concluded with a parable, a vision given to Eliakim, and Eliakim's extensive warnings and admonitions to the people of Albion (Britain).

Authorship, publication, and initial reception
The listed author of the First Book of Napoleon is "Eliakim the Scribe", who is "a descendant of a modern branch of the tribe of Levi; A Rabbi educated in the Christian schools of the sons of the prophets". Eliakim is the name of multiple figures in the King James Bible.

Authorship of The First Book of Napoleon is tentatively attributed to French author Modeste Gruau, though Gruau would have been about fourteen years old in 1809. Nearly 50 years after the publication of The First Book of Napoleon, Grau published works under the pen name of "Eliakim". It remains uncertain whether Modeste Grau authored The First Book of Napoleon in his early teens or whether Grau's pen name "Eliakim" (1854) was conflated with a similar pen name of a separate author who wrote under the name "Eliakim the Scribe" (1809).

Another sources connects the work to Michael Linning Melville and Thomas Mitchell.

The title page contains the statement "Sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, and J.J. Stockdale, Pall-mall; P. Hill, Edinburgh; and M. Keene, Dublin".

The work was reviewed the February 1810 issue of the British Critic.

Modern commentary
Modern researchers have taken note of similarities between The First Book of Napoleon and other works which emulated the style of the King James Bible. Other works in the genre include The Late War, a history of the War of 1812 written in the style the King James Bible, and The Book of Mormon, a 1830 work that purports to be a pre-Columbian history of the Americas miraculously translated by Joseph Smith, which is written in the style of the King James Bible.