A SET OF 9 RUSSIAN ENGRAVINGS FOR THE CORONATION OF CATHERINE THE GREAT, ST. PETERSBURG, 1850S
comprising 9 double-page engraved plates and list of images, by A. Melnikov, Dmitriev, Lebedev, and D. Andruzskiy, Risunki prinadlezhashchie k opisaniiu koronovaniia Imperatritsy Ekateriny II (St. Petersburg, published an addendum to the Kammerfurier Ceremonial Journals circa 1850), each numbered upper right corner of plate, no. 7 dated 1854, each image measuring: 47 x 70 cm (18 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.), each full sheet measuring: 57 x 77 cm (22 1/2 x 30 1/4 in.), atlas dimensions: 59 x 43 cm (23 1/4 x 16 7/8 in.)

LITERATURE
Nikolai Soloviev, Antikvarnaya i knizhnaya torgovlya, katalog #105 (St. Petersburg, 1910 [first edition]), no. 186
Dmitriy Rovinskiy, Podrobniy slovar russkih graverov XVI-XX v.v., (St. Petersburg, 1892), vol. 2, p. 19
Nikolai Obolianinov, Katalog russkih illustrirovannyh izdaniy 1725-1860 (St. Petersburg, 1914), no. 1845
Vasily Vereshchagin, Russkie illustrirovannye izdania XVIII v. i XIX stoletiy. Bibliograficheskiy opyt (St. Petersburg, 1898), no. 614

LOT NOTES
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.

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