Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky A. I. Military gallery of the Winter Palace. Emperor Alexander I and his companions. In 6 ...

Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky A. I. Military gallery of the Winter Palace. Emperor Alexander I and his companions. In 6 vol. Volume 1.
SPb.: Publishing V. Mezhevich and N. Pesotskaya. 1846, VI, 256 p., with separate pagination, 1 l. engraved title, 25 L. portraits. Hardcover, Very large format: 25.8 x 32.5 cm .

The spine is missing, the front and back covers depart from the block, pre-revolutionary printing of a non-existent library, otherwise good complete condition.

In the Winter Palace, Emperor Alexander I ordered to create a military gallery in 1812, which was supposed to accommodate more than 300 portraits, for the execution of which in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1819 came the famous English painter George DOE (Davout). The Grand opening of the gallery took place in 1826, six-volume edition of "the Military gallery of the Winter Palace" came out during 1845-1849 in the St. Petersburg printing house of Carlo CRIA. The publication combined portraits and biographies of Russian generals who participated in the Patriotic war and foreign campaigns. Portraits from the picturesque originals were engraved on steel by Parisian artists Guo and Dolle. The editor-in-chief, as well as the author of many biographies, became a military historian, Lieutenant-General Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky. His work contains extensive documentary and memoir material, provides a detailed description and analysis of the military actions of Russia and France during the Patriotic war of 1812. The publication is a bibliographic rarity, is of artistic and historical value."The highest quality of engravings and printing execution determined steady reader's interest to the edition. The complete set became a rarity already in the 19th Century..."On. No. 1618, Bibliohroniki, I, No. 59.