A rare and magnificent coronation album of Emperor Alexander II, Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1856

entitled in Cyrillic Opisanie sviaschenneishago koronovaniia Ikh Imperatorskikh Velichestv gosudaria imperatora Alexandra Vtorogo i gosudaryni imperatritsy Marii Alexandrovny vseiia Rossii [Description of the most sacred Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties The Sovereign Emperor Alexander II and the Empress Maria Alexandrovna of All the Russias], 170p, lithographed title printed in red and gilt, 18 full-page chromolithographs by various engravers after Zichy, Timm and others, 32 lithographed illustrations, two of these in color; original green morocco, the cover gilt with a large block of the Imperial regalia, gilt edges

the pages with foxing throughout, the chromolithographs bright and and in good condition, binding tight, some small bumping to corners
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Alexander II's is the most lavish and ostentatious of all Russian coronation albums. In his 1941 Valse des Fleurs, Sacherevell Sitwell speculated that the volume was "of such immense size" … "[that] this may be the largest book that ever issued from the printing press." No cost was spared in the production of the book: special large type was cast and it was printed on paper imported from China. Of the 52 illustrations, 15 are exquisitely printed chromolithographs after Zichy, Timm and other court artists and still retain their intense colors today. The volume took four years to prepare and the production cost an astounding 123,000 rubles. The album was prepared not merely for members of the court, but also for the diplomatic elite and the aristocracy of Europe. Two hundred copies were published in Russian, and two hundred in French, the latter as gifts for high figures in the court and foreign guests attending the ceremony. On the volume, see R. Wortman, Scenarios of Power, vol. 2, Princeton, 2000, pp. 33-35.