[ African Expeditionary Force ][MS, in French, titled 'Avis de la Commission, chargée de l'étude préparatoire des questions relatives à l'armement des Navires à Vapeur, sur l'embarquement des troupes expeditionnaires à bord de ces Navires.'

Folio, 30 pp. In brown leather half-binding, with marbled boards. One simple pen illustration, p. 18, showing arrangement of 'Muraille' and 'Pont'. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. Neatly set out, in a secretarial hand, with a synopsis beside each paragraph in red ink in the widened left-hand margins. As a loosely-inserted printed slip explains in English, the manuscript sets out 'instructions by a French Official Commission for the preparation and arming of a fleet of steam ships to be equipped to carry marines to form an expeditionary force to the coast of Africa. [...] The manuscript goes into great detail concerning the armaments to be fitted into the frigate Magellan, the corvette Cuvier, & Infernal, and the other ships, and includes a pen and ink drawing sowing the placement of rifles within a boat. Other sections cover the transportation of horses, food, etc. Also present is a typed note, in English, on a slip laid down at the front, which describes the item as follows: 'Instructions of the plans for the preparations in question, relating to the Armament of the Navy under steam, upon the embarkment of expeditionary Troops aboard the said Naval Ships'. The force would not appear to be proposed for a specific purpose, but rather to strengthen French naval power.