Beschreibung:

ELIZABETH PETROVNA, Empress of Russia (1709-1762).] Krönungs-Geschichte oder umstaendliche Beschreibung des solennen Einzugs... St. Petersburg: Kayserl. Academie der Wissenschafften 1745.
ELIZABETH PETROVNA, Empress of Russia (1709-1762).] Krönungs-Geschichte oder umstaendliche Beschreibung des solennen Einzugs... St. Petersburg: Kayserl. Academie der Wissenschafften 1745. 2 o (443 x 277 mm). 76 pages of text in German, captions and most artists's signatures in Russian. Mezzotint frontispiece portrait of Elizabeth Petrovna by Johann Stenglin after Louis Caravaque and 49 plates by I. A. Sokolov (no. 5 after Elias Grimmel), G. A. Kachalov and C. A. Wortmann, depicting processions, triumphal arches, regalia, ceremonies, etc., 16 folding, one (no. 45) a mezzotint of a firework display (seven plates with repaired tears, some scattered pale spotting and soiling). Presentation Imperial binding of contemporary mottled calf, gilt border on covers, gilt-crowned monogram at the corners, large central gilt imperial "E" of Empress Elizabeth on front cover, back cover with large Russian eagle in gilt at center (rebacked, a few other repairs). Provenance : Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1762, binding, inscription); purchased from Lucien Goldschmidt, 4 February 1958. FIRST EDITION IN GERMAN IN AN IMPERIAL PRESENTATION BINDING OF AN EXTREMELY RARE RUSSIAN FESTIVITY, later presented by her to a Knight of the Maltese order, as attested by the inscription on the flyleaf: "Reçú en present par order de l'Imperatrice à St. Petersbourg dans le mois d'Avril en 1748. Chevalier de Malte." The present edition translates the Russian edition of the previous year and describes the ceremonies of the coronation of the daughter of Peter the Great, who gained power by overthrowing the Regent Anna and Czar Ivan VI (1741). "It is one of the most richly illustrated Russian baroque books which it took three years to produce; the collaboration in it between native and imported foreign artists is fascinating. This is the German language issue, no doubt printed for propaganda purposes and for distribution to foreign courts, but with the engraved captions for the plates unchanged..." (Martin Breslauer, cat. 103, no. 84). Though the Berlin Catalogue describes a complete copy of the Russian edition, it lists only an incomplete copy of the German edition. Not in Brunet, Colas, Ruggieri or Vinet. See Kasinec & Wortman, "Russian coronation albums," in: Biblion 1 (1992): 82-86. Berlin 3097.