I personally own more than one hundred text books and over ninety military books and several period original books on the Napoleonic Wars. This has taken me many years to assemble and in the case of some titles a lot of begging and bartering to acquire. Those I have told of this collection have said to me ‘its impossible for me to get this amount of material, its beyond my scope, my budget, my sanity to collect it and anyway I need it right ruddy now!’. So with that in mind I am recommending one title for the Napoleonic Wars, one book, that if you need it now and cannot get many others then it is the only one you really need.
The Napoleonic Source Book by Philip J.Haythornwaite
This is a book that I picked up in a second hand shop for less than a pound in Paisley a few years ago,while on the scrounge with my best buddy Jim Brittain, and while it is out of print there are many copies around that you should be able to find using the normal means for less than ten pounds. It is a superb big paperback with about four hundred pages divided into several big sections. While I will not list contents at length, here they are by section and intent:
The Campaigns – A history of the period from the French Revolution to the Hundred Days including Battle List and the War at Sea.
Weapons and Practise of War – All the weapons of the period, diagrams, usage, formations, medical, at sea, artillery.
The Nations of the Wars – By alphabetical listing from Anhalt to Wurzburg all nations with history, regiments, service arms, uniforms.
Biographies – All the famous and less so commanders of the Napoleonic Wars.
Sources – The titles the author used in his research.
Miscellanea – Calendars, Equipment, Expenses lists, Measurements, Artillery Tables, etc.
My own copy has about five hundred hand written notes on it linking it to other titles I own. I used my copy as my primary tool in the writing of the background of the fantasy black powder World of Valon for Flintloque 3rd edition’s new titles. I recommend this book most whole heartedly…get it!
GBS