Beschreibung:

BRÜHL, Count Karl Friedrich Moritz Paul and S. H. SPIKER (editors and translators). Lalla Rûkh. Ein Festspiel mit Gesang und Tanz. Berlin: Trowitzsch & Son for Ludwig Wilhelm Wittich, 1822. 4° (284 x 224mm.). Title, dedication, list of subscribers, 23 handcoloured lithographs by Laurens and Jügel after von Stürmer and von Klöber, including 1 folding, with tissue guards. (Slight spotting to text, mainly marginal.) Contemporary half diced russia, spine gilt, by C. W. Vogt, the royal bookbinder (joints cracked, extremities rubbed). Provenance: EDITOR'S COPY (signature of S. H. Spiker, dated 1822). A musical entertainment based on Thomas Moore's Indian romance Lalla Rookh (published in 1817), organised at the Court of Berlin to celebrate the visit of the Russian Crown Prince, later Tsar, Nicholas and his bride Alexandra on 27th January 1822. The whole court participated in the festival, with the dancers played by the cream of the Russian and German aristocracy and the role of Lalla Rûkh played by Crown Princess Alexandra. The occasion was so enjoyable that it was repeated on the 11th February. The programme and decorations were by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and the music by Gaspare Spontini, who later transformed it into a full-length opera. The costumes were designed by August von Klöber, who drew the folding plate for this book. A French edition of the work was published by Wittich in the same year. Lipperheide Sbb 25 (lacking two plates) and Sbb 26 (French edition); Vinet 777 (with 4 additional plates).