The Memoirs of Lady Hamilton were published in London in 1815, soon after the death of Emma Hamilton. They were published anonymously. The author was an ill-disposed but well-informed and shrewd observer.
An American edition followed soon (presented here). The text is identical to the British edition but the type used was different so the pagination differs.
In 1816 appeared a French edition (more an adaptation than a translation). That edition was for many years the only source in French on Emma Hamilton and as such was used by Alexander Dumas.
Emma Hamilton is a recurring character in the work of Dumas. She appears initially in Corricolo then in the Mémoires in connection with the captivity of his father, the General Dumas in the Neapolitan prisons, and in La San Felice.
The memoirs are the main (if not the only) source of his life of Lady Hamilton variously entitled Emma Lyonna, les mémoires d'une favorite or Lady Hamilton.
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