Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840) is best known as the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte who played a key role in the 18th Brumaire coup d'état that brought his brother to power in 1799. He was subsequently named Minister of the Interior of the Empire, though soon fell out of favour with his brother. Lucien maintained a strong interest in the arts and, in addition to the novel La tribu indienne, he also wrote memoirs, travel journals, and an epic poem, Charlemagne, ou, L'église délivrée.
La tribu indienne was published in 1799 but the author had all copies of the novel suppressed shortly after he was appointed Minister of the Interior. It reappeared in 1802 under a different title, Les Tenadores, ou, L'Europeéen et l'indienne, but without illustrations and without mention of Lucien Bonaparte. In 1848 the novel was reissued under its original title with illustrations by Prudhon and went into several editions.
This edition brings to light a lost text that will be of considerable interest to scholars, contributing to the recent re-evaluation of the French literary canon through consideration of key sentimental texts.