[MIKHAIL III, 1596-1645, Russian Tsar, founder of the Romanov dynasty in 1613)]

Printed description in French ("Explication des Planches ...") of the 21 ancient paintings in the Archives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, representing Mikhail III's Election and Consecration, his Coronation feast, and the return from Polish capitivity of Mikhail's father Philaret in 1619, pp. i, 23, 8vo., all edges gilt, dark green morocco, small arms of the Russian Imperial house gilt on upper cover, Moscow, Press of the Holy Synod, slight wear to covers

The descriptions are an invaluable record of Moscow and other cities in the early 17th century, of clothes and customs, and of the chief actors in the unfolding drama. Mikhail was elected on 21st February 1613, but it was not till 24th March that the delegates of the council discovered the young tsar and his mother Martha at the Ipatievsky monastery near Kostroma. At first Martha protested that her son was too young, but the weeping boyars declared that if he refused they would hold him responsible for the destruction of Muscovy. The original paintings identify many buildings and streets, and their modern equivalents are given in the text where different.
With the bookplate in red and black of the Coburg library, bearing the arms of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1844-1900), whose wife Maria Alexandrovna (1853-1920) was the only daughter of Alexander II.
From the collection of Grand Duke Kyril & Victoria Melita

Item Date:  1856

Stock No:  50883      £850

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