Beschreibung:

CATHERINE II, the Great. -- Risunki prinadlezhashchie k opisaniiu koronovaniia Imperatritsy Ekateriny IIi . [Illustrations relating to the Description of the Coronation of Catherine II]. [No place, but ?St. Petersburg: no publisher, no date but c.1850s].
CATHERINE II, the Great. -- Risunki prinadlezhashchie k opisaniiu koronovaniia Imperatritsy Ekateriny IIi . [Illustrations relating to the Description of the Coronation of Catherine II]. [No place, but ?St. Petersburg: no publisher, no date but c.1850s]. 2° (575 x 395mm). Atlas volume only. Double-page title within engraved border, double-page index leaf, and 9 double-page engraved plates, by A. Melnikov, Dmitriev, Lebedev, and D. Andruzskii. (Some loss at the corners not affecting the engravings, a few repaired marginal tears, light scattered spotting.) Recent half-calf over marbled boards. THE RARE CATHERINE THE GREAT CORONATION ALBUM. Published without imprint, but almost certainly in the late 1850s in anticipation of the centenary of Catherine's enthronement. No coronation album was published in Catherine's own lifetime but J-L Develi and Mikhail Makhaev are known to have made drawings from life of the event. In the mid 19th-century 9 previously unknown prints probably after these drawings were found in the Cabinet Archive, from which it is assumed the plates for this edition were made. The last plate shows the fireworks display staged for the coronation; the original carried an imprint showing that it was published by the Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Vinogradov.