Twelve days after the death of Gustave Flaubert in May 1880, the official death seals were removed from his door and an inventory of the contents of his rooms was made. Here are a few of his possessions left behind:

In the bedroom on the first floor,

panama hat

top hat

red silk cravat

5 pairs of gloves

19 shirts

2 dressing gowns

5 waistcoats

7 walking sticks

tobacco jar

two pair of boots

In the dining room,

35 champagne glasses

48 porcelain dinner plates

a painting representing Napoleon 1

a pocket watch in a gold case engraved with initials ‘GF’

a gold watch chain

a gold signet ring with square stone

a silver spoon and two forks marked ‘N Flaubert’

5 oyster-knives with black handles and silver blades

In the study on the first floor,

Large round table in mahogany

Green woolen tablecloth

One tiger skin, one lynx skin, one bear skin, white

Bronze ink well

Three paperknives, one with initials ‘GF’

Unfinished manuscript of work entitled Bouvard et Pecuchet

Works of Walter Scott in 32 vols.

Photographic reproduction of painting entitled Visions

Aray consisting of lances, javelins, arrows, mandolin, basque drum, axe, oriental pipe, cardboard Chinesse statuette

Marble clock with bronze figurine

Works of Saint Teresa in Migne edition

In a bookcase drawer – 2515 francs to cover funeral expenses, burial charges and other debts. (from Flaubert: A Life by Geoffrey Wall)

Left behind: Scientists, studying a massive accumulation of 20-million-year-old amber found in the Dominican Republic more than 50 years ago, have discovered a tiny fossilized grasshopper that is believed to have existed 18 million to 20 million years ago. (from 7/31/2014 – Int’l Business Times)

Homeland left behind: Today, in 1881, … five years after General George A. Custer’s infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrendered to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 of his men at Little Bighorn. Pursued by the U.S. Army after the Indian victory, he escaped to Canada with his followers (https://www. history.com/this-day-in-history/sitting-bull-surrenders)