A rare letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte in English will go to the auction block in France on Sunday . The letter could fetch close to $ 100,000 in the auction in the French town of Fontainebleau , south of Paris . Auction house Osenat describes it as the first letter the French emperor wrote in English on St. Helena , after he was defeated and exiled to the British island to live under military guard . Learning English behind the backs of his captors `` was a sort of revenge , a historical revenge '' for Napoleon , said Jean-Christophe Chataigner of Osenat . `` He was imprisoned by the English ... and he wants to continue to have a certain degree of independence , of freedom , and to be able to learn English without his jailers knowing it was a great motivation for him , '' Chataigner said . The auctioneer said Napoleon picked up English relatively quickly and well . `` I think that French people who learn English today make lots more mistakes than Napoleon at the time , so it 's a letter which is relatively well-written , '' he said . `` There are very few mistakes apart from a few words which have two meanings in English . '' Napoleon learned the language in two or three years , Chataigner said . `` He 's really a very good student , although he was a good student in lots of fields so it 's maybe not that surprising , '' he added .
It 's the first letter Napoleon wrote in English from captivity , the auction house says . Comment: The letter could sell for $ 100,000 .