Letter signed ("Bonaparte", as Général-en-chef).

Small folio (228 x 340 mm). ¾ page on a bifolium with integral address panel. Headed stationery of the French Army of the Orient with small woodcut vignette. To Jean-Baptiste-Etienne Poussielgue (1764-1845), Comptroller of Expenses for the Army and Administrator of General Finances of Egypt (and here addressed as "Citoyen Poussielgue, administrateur des finances, Maison du Cheick El Bekri au Caire"). Napoleon requests explanations regarding a recent large payment: "Je vois sur l’état du payeur une somme de 4693.18.6 [talari] versée dans sa caisse pour saisie faite sur trois particuliers. Je désirerais savoir ce que c’est que cette saisie [.]" ("I see on the payer's statement a sum of 4693.18.6 talari, paid into his account for a sequestration made upon three individuals. I would like to know what this sequestration is [.]"). - The body of the document is in the hand of Napoleon's private secretary Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (1769-1834). The fine signature "Bonaparte" is followed by details of the sums in a different hand (probably that of Poussielgue); a note "rep. 20 fructr." at the head marks the response sent on the following day. - Remains of a red seal on verso, and corner of address leaf clipped from opening the seal. Insignificant dust marks; very well preserved. - From the collection of the French psychiatrist Dr. Roland Broca.